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THE FOURT 
SCHOOL YEA 






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Class L& \5hS 



Book 

Gop)Tightl^^. 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr 



The Fourth School Year 



A Course of Study with Detailed 

Selection of Lesson 

Material 

Arranged by Months and Correlated 
BY 

ANNA BUCKBEE 

Teacher of Methods, State Normal School, 
California, Pennsylvania 



THEODORE B. NOS5. Ph. D. 

General Editor of the Series 
Principal of the State Normal School, California, Pennsylvania 



CHICAGO 

A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



|UBS7«»V >** RONQRESS 

OCT 19 1904 

aoovrt^ht Entry . 

//, I ^# V 

LASS a XXo. Na 

' COPY B 



Copyright July 1904 

by 
4?SNA BUCKBEE 




PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR 

"The Fourth School Year," Uke its predecessors in the series, 
is in no sense or degree a compilation. Much labor has been 
expended to put into shape a year's work, not such as might have 
been used in the schoolroom, but such, in substance, as has been 
used. The author has carefully tested, in classes under her own 
observation or instruction, the lesson-material here presented. 

The attempt to make a large use, in school instruction, of the 
pupil's own wealth of experience, acquired in the home, on the 
farm, in the shop, etc., will doubtless be welcomed by teachers. It 
is believed, also, that many teachers will approve the emphasis here 
placed upon the teaching of the various form studies, such as read- 
ing, writing, spelling, composition, and arithmetic, mainly through 
subjects containing rich thought material. Ample provision has 
been made, we think, for whatever incidental or supplementary 
drill may be needed to insure to pupils mechanical facility in 
manual and mental processes, such as writing, drawing, spelling, 
and reckoning, since these are to be used almost constantly through- 
out the year. 

THEO. B. NOSS. 

California Pa. 



PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR 

The aim of this book is to give an outline of topics suitable for 
the fourth year of school. 

In the selection of material to be used three things have been 
considered — the child's powers, or what he can do; his interests, or 
what he wishes to do ; and his future, or what he is preparing to do. 

With regard to the first point, the aim has been, not to include 
everything that a pupil of this grade can do, but to select that which 
is best worth his doing. Many things of which a child of this age 
is capable, such as memorizing disconnected facts in geography 
or science, have been omitted because they have nothing to do 
with his interests at this time. 

In the second place, it is assumed that a child in this grade who 
has been well taught has gained whatever there is for him, of educa- 
tional value, in the history and occupations of primitive and 
slightly civilized people. He is now ready to profit by and enjoy 
the study of simple phases of modern civilization. Therefore agri- 
culture and construction have been made the basis, to some extent 
at least, of the science, geography, history, and arithmetic of the 
year. In other words, so far as the year's work has any unity, it 
is found in life on a small farm. 

Children at the age of nine or ten years are full of restless activity. 
They are not content to sit and listen all day to instruction about 
things. They wish to be doing. They also are full of curiosity 
and wish to know how things are made. Therefore any course of 
study for this year, which considers the nature of the child at all 
seriously, must provide for plenty of activity. This has been at- 
tempted in the following outlines, mostly under the heads of The 
Arts and Arithmetic. 



6 PREFACE 

Thirdly, this book recognizes the fact that the children are pre- 
paring to live in a world of highly specialized industry, carried on 
largely by complicated machines. This new industrial situation 
is best understood by those who have worked with their hands, 
have seen the need of machines, and have tried to invent them. 
The actual use of machinery as a subject for study belongs to the 
higher grades; but pupils of the fourth grade should come to have 
a strong appreciation of the slowness and difficulty of hand labor. 

Again, modern society, whether as a church, a civic club, a labor 
union, or a city council, accomplishes its ends by cooperation. It 
is the group of people, rather than the individual, that gets things 
done to-day. Education falls far short of fitting children for life if 
it does not train them to work together for a common end. This 
ideal has received due recognition in the pages that follow. 

It remains only to point out that much of the work outlined here 
presupposes a close connection between the home and the school. 
If the plans given are carried out, and the advice and assistance of 
parents are sought along the lines suggested, a long step will be 
taken toward complete harmony between the two strongest forces 
in the education of a child. 

Miss Katharine Griel, teacher of drawing at the State Normal 
School, California, Pa., made the pen and ink sketches, and the 
plan drawings, expressly for this book. The photographs were 
made by Prof. H. W. Harmon and Mr. Frank Craven. Credit is 
given in the proper place. The relief map of the Monongahela 
basin was the joint work of Dr. T. B. Noss and Miss Mara B. 
Clingerman. Thanks are due to Dr. H. T. Lukens, of the State 
Normal School, California, Pa., for valuable aid. 

State Normal School, ANNA BUCKBEE 

California, Pa., 
June, 1904. 



CONSPECTUS 



CONSPECTUS OF 





NATURE STUDY 


GEOGRAPHY 


HISTORY 


SEPTEMBER 


The Farm — Sowing Wheat, 

Harvesting Corn. 
Flower Garden. Start slips; 

sow pansy seeds; watch 

for weeds; gather seeds. 

Make bed for cold-frame. 
Vegetable Garden. Salt 

down pickles; dry corn. 
Fruits. Dry apples and 

peaches; make jelly. 
Field and Woods Trip. 

Material for baskets. 
Weather Record. Watch 

for frost. 

The Farm — Sowing Rye, 
Harvesting Potatoes. 
Gathering Apples and 
Grapes. 

The Storing of Vegetables 
and Fruits. Dry pump- 
kins; procure gourds for 
the pioneer house. 

Window Garden for School. 

Field and Woods Trip. Get 
decorative material. 

Weather Record. Special 
study of frosts. 


The Round Earth, Zones. 
Continents. Oceans. 

Mapping of the Neighbor- 
hood Continued. (See 
"Third School Year.") 
Include surrounding 
towns which pupils know. 
Extend to include Pitts- 
burg. 

Iron and Steel Industry. 

Calendar of Harvests of the 
World for September. 


Conrad Weiser's Crossing of 
the Mountains. 

Preparation for the Coun- 
cils. 

The Two Councils. 

Winning of the Indians. 

Winning of the Indians to 
the Side of the English 
agamst the French, 1748. 


OCTOBER 


Home Geography Contin- 
ued. 

The Monongahela River. 
As a typical river and as 
a means of transporta- 
tion. 

The Coke Industry. 

Railroads of the Vicinity. 

Packing as a Means of 
Transportation. 

October Harvests of the 
World. 


Celoron's Expedition 
Object of the Expedition. 
Plan of the Expedition. 
The Journey Itself. 
Dramatic Scene at Picka- 
willany. 


NOVEMBER 


Study of Deer, Buffalo, and 

Game Birds. 
The Curing of Meats. 
Work with Plants. Bring 

in soil for spring. Set 

plants in cold-frame. 

Study window garden. 
Field and Woods Trip. Get 

specimens of wood for 

winter use. 
Weather Observations. Are 

springs' replenished? 


The Allegheny River. 

The Petroleum Industry. 

Extend Map to Lake Erie. 

The Ohio River. Trans- 
portation: rafts, flat- 
boats, steamers. 

The Mississippi River and 
the Prairies. 

Maps of the Ohio and 
Mississippi Valleys. 

Fall Rains, Floods, Springs. 

November Harvests of the 
World. 

The Ocean. Characteristics; 
use as a highway; dan- 
gers; industries connect- 
ed with the ocean. 

Passenger and Frt. Service. 

Fishing; Whaling; Sealing; 
Gathering Oysters. 

Observation of River Dur- 
ing Month with Refer- 
ence to Floating Coal. 

Calendar of Harvests for 
December. 


The Pioneers of Western 
Pemisylvania. 

How They Came. 

The Homes They Built. 

Their Furniture, Tools, and 
Utensils. 

At Work in the Clearing. 

Food of the Pioneers. 

The Sending Out of Chris- 
topher Gist. 


DECEMBER 


Weather Observations. 

Summarize all the signs of 
winter. 

Care and Study of Plants. 
Special study of bulbs 
planted in September. 

Birds, and Birds' Nests. 


The Pioneers Continued. 
Blockhouses. 
Fashions in the Woods. 
Going East to Market. 
Boating Down the Ohio. 
Occupations of Pioneers. 
Schools. Churches. Amuse- 
ments. 
Gist's Christmas. 


JANUARY 


Care of Window Garden 
and Cold-Frame. 

Weather Conditions. Ef- 
fects of cold upon animal 
life; upon work at the 
farm, both indoors and 
out. 

Study of Snow. Avalanches. 


The Glass Industry. / 

The St. Lawrence Rivei^t 

The Great Lakes^ 

Niagara Falls. . 

The Hudson Bay Region. 

Alaska. 

Portages Between Great 

Lakes and Mississippi 

System of Rivers. 
January Harvests. 


The Fur Trade. Mode and 

Extent. 
Hudson Bay Traders. 
French Traders. 
New York Trade. 
Pennsylvania's Share in 

This Business. 
Work of Christopher Gist. 



FOURTH YEAR WORK 



LITERATURE 



ARITHMETIC 



Poetry: "Hiawatha," 
Part I, Longfellow. 

Prose: Selections from the 
Bible, and from various 
readers 



Poetry: "H i a w a t h a," 

Part II. 
Prose: Bible stories, and 

selections from school 

readers. 
Parkman's "Montcalm and 

Wolfe." Vol. I, Chap. ii. 



Poetry: 'The Courtship 
of Miles Standish," Long- 
fellow. 

Prose: "Stories of Ohio," 
Howells, Chap. XVI. 



Prose: "A Dog of Flan- 
ders," Louise de la Rame'; 
Short stories of Christmas. 



Poetry: "The Wreck of 
the Hesperus," Longfel- 
low. 

Prose: "Hard Fare," Bur- 
roughs. 

" C a p ta i n s Courageous," 
Kipling, or other stories 
of the sea. 



New Process to be Taught 
Formally: Long Division. 

Daily Drill in Rapid Addi- 
tion, Subtraction and 
Other Combinations. 

Writing of Numbers from 
Dictation. 

Material for Problems: Size 
of earth; wheat harvest; 
corn harvest; sowing 
wheat; plotting fields; 
fencing; weighing fruits 
before and after drying, 
and calculating the loss. 



New Processes to be Taught 
Formally: Multiphcation 
of Fractions, and Reduc- 
ing to Lower Terms. 

Rapid Oral Drill in Addi- 
tion, Subtraction and 
Multiplication. 

Material for Problems: In 
map making; preserving 
of fruits; measurement 
necessary for the con- 
structive work under 
Arts. The making of the 
various articles calls for 
exactness. 



New Process: Division of 
Fractions. 

Drill on Combinations Con- 
tinued Daily. 

Material for Problems: Pio- 
neer houses and work; 
of boats; rafting; Thanks- 
giving dinner; cost of 
winter clothing; measure- 
ments and calculations 
needed in constructive 
work given under Arts. 



New Process: Addition of 
Fractions. 

Drill on Fractional Parts. 

Material for Problems: Sea 
fishing; weather record; 
measuring, buying and 
storing fuel. Special em- 
phasis upon cloth needed 
for garments, material 
needed for doll-house, etc. 



New Process: Subtraction 
of Fractions. 

Drill for Facility and 
Rapidity in Use of Num- 
bers. 

Material for Problems: In 
cooking, including weigh- 
ing, measuring, and com- 
paring. Make problems 
about clothes and fur- 
nishings of pioneer or 
doll-house. 



LANGUAGE 



THE ARTS 



Compositions : Topics taken 
from studies of the 
month. 

Original Composition: 
"How We Might Recog- 
nize the Torrid Zone." 

Oral Reproduction of "Wei- 
ser's Journal," and "Hia- 
watha." 

Spelling Lists from Daily 
Lessons. 

Drill for Correct Language 
Forms. 

Reading: "Hiawatha." 



Compositions: Subjects 
found in geography and 
history. Imaginary story 
of Indian life. 

The Journal of Gist Begun. 

Capital Letters. Emphasize 
use. 

Correction of Common 
Grammatical Errors. 

Reading: "Hiawatha," the 
school readers, and geo- 
graphical readers. 



Compositions: Topics se- 
lected from local indus- 
tries, from pioneer his- 
tory, from nature study. 

Letter-Writing. Punctua- 
tion. 

Gist's Journal. Write in 
the first person. 

Spelling Daily Throughout 
Year. 

Reading: Stories of domes- 
tic animals. 



Compositions: "How to 
Keep Christmas." "The 
Season's Greetings." 
Story of ocean adventure. 

Note-Taking in Nature. 

Gist's Journal Continued. 

Reproduction of Stories. 

Correction of Grammatical 
Errors. 

Reading: Short stories of 
Christmas. 



Compositions: The Hud- 
son Bay Fur Company. 
Portages. The Glass In- 
dustry. 

Letter-Writing, Gist's Jour- 
nal, Dictation Work and 
Spelling, Continued. 

School Diary. 

Reading: "Snow - Bound." 
Arctic stories, and stories 
of hunters and trappers. 



Construction. Make 
wampum belt, and vari- 
ous Indian articles; also, 
envelopes, fruit rack, etc. 

Modeling: Fruits, vegeta- 
bles, map of Penn'a. 

Drawing: Working draw- 
ings for hand work, and 
maps to a scale. 

ColorWork. Paint peach- 
es, apples, corn, etc. 

Illustrative Drawing: 
"AVeiser" and "Hiawa- 
tha." 



Construction. Make ca- 
noe, bows and arrows, 
baskets, cold-frame, model 
of cellar; gill, pint, quart 
and gallon measures. 

Drawing. Draw plans to 
a scale for above objects. 

Modeling: Fruits and 
nuts. 

Color Work. Paint* au- 
tumn leaves, landscape, 
Indians. 

Illustrative Drawing.' 
"Hiawatha," and Cele- 
ron's expedition. 



Construction. Make pio- 
neer house. Make furni- 
ture; dress dolls as pio- 
neers. Teach cutting and 
sewing of patchwork. 

Drawing: Plans and pat- 
terns for above articles. 

Modeling: Ohio basm; 
map of Mississippi basin. 

Color Work. Paint farm 
animals, and landscape. 

Illustrative Drawing: 
"Miles Standish." 



Construction. Make 
doU-house; baskets and 
fancy boxes. Cut pat- 
terns for garments. 

Drawing. Draw patterns 
to a scale. 

Color Work. Paint a 
Flemish dog, wagon, girl. 

Illustrative Drawing: 
Sketches suggested by 
the literature. 



Construction. Make 
more of the pioneer tools 
and utensils. Make traps, 
pack-saddle and snow- 
shoes. Continue sewing. 

Drawing. Draw and cut 
patterns for garments. 
Make plan drawings. 

Color Work. Experiment 
with dyeing. 

Illustrative Drawing: 
Burroughs' s essays. 





NATURE STUDY 


GEOGRAPHY 


HISTORY 


FEBRUARY 


Weather Record. Compare 
with January. 

Experiments with Freezing. 
Work of ice. Glaciers. 

The Winds. Experiments 
with hot and cold air. 

Thaws, Returning Birds, 
Changes in Buds, Sap, 
Etc. 

Planting of Seeds for Trans- 
planting. 


Rocky Mountain Region 
and Pacific Coast. 

Lewis and Clark Expedi- 
tion. 

Rocky Mountain Plateau. 

Yellowstone National Park. 

Zebulon Pike's Expedition. 

Pike's Peak and the Rio 
Grande. 

A Sheep Ranch. 

Grand Canon of the Colo- 
rado. 

February Harvests. 


Expedition of Lewis and 

Clark. 
Purpose and Plan. 
The Start. 
The First Winter. 
Crossing the Divide. 
The Second Winter. 
The Return. 
Christopher Gist at Picka- 

willany. 


MARCH 


The School Garden. 

The Making of Maple Sugar. 

Signs of Spring. 

Weather Record. Study it 
from the standpoint of 
the farmer. Special study 
of conditions favorable or 
unfavorable to him. 


Life in Southern California. 

Orange and Olive Groves. 

Flower and Vegetable Gar- 
dens. Homes. 

I rrigation . Ho w carried on . 

The Growing of English 
Walnuts. 

The Mining of Gold. 

Middle Region of the 
United States. Emi- 
grant trains. The great 
corn and wheat fields. 
A cattle ranch. 

March Harvests. 


Washington's Journey to 
the French Forts. 

The Forts. 

Purpose and Plan of the 
Journey. 

Washington Reaches Logs- 
town. 

His Stay at That Place. 

His Trip to Venango. 

Fort Le Boeuf. 

The Return. 


APRIL 


Work with Plants. Work at 
school garden, or have 
pupils raise plants at 
home. 

The Farm. Spring work. 
Early food plants. 

Weather Record. Special 
study of late frosts. 

Trips to the Woods. 

Arbor Day. Work with 
trees. 


Middle Coast Regions. The 
Big Trees. 

Yosemite Valley. 

Oregon Trail and Columbia 
River. Salmon fisheries. 

The Lumber of Washing- 
ton. 

A Typical Farm of the 
Northwest. 

Rotation of the Earth, and 
Standard Time. 

April Harvests. 


Ward's Fort. Its Surren- 
der. 

The French Build Fort Du- 
quesne. 

Washington at Great Mead- 
ows. He defeats Jumon- 
ville. 

Fort Necessity. 

Washington's Surrender. 


MAY 


Study of Insects. 

Report upon Birds Ob- 
served. 

Work in School Garden. 

Weather Record. Special 
study of temperature, 
and length of day, and 
dew. 

Flowers. Gather and ex- 
amine wild flowers. Study 
blossoms and sets on 
fruit trees. 


Gulf States. The sugar in- 
dustry. Cities. Florida. 

The Atlantic Slope as a 
Whole. 

Productions of South At- 
lantic States. Cities. 

Rivers of the Middle States. 

General Ideas of New Eng- 
land. Lumbering, fish- 
ing, quarrying. Cities. 
Pleasure resorts. (In- 
stead of these topics, 
Mexico and the Amazon 
are recommended.) 

May Harvests. 


The Underground Railway- 
Memorial Day: How it 

should be kept. 
Children as Citizens. 
Christopher Gist reaches 

Virginia. 



10 



LITERATURE 



Poetry: "Lucy Gray," 
Wordsworth. 

Prose: "Winter Neigh- 
bors," Burroughs. 

"Snow-Walkers," same au- 
thor. 

"Ralph Ringwood," Wash- 
ington Irving. 



ARITHMETIC 



LANGUAGE 



New Subject: Decimals. 

I Writing and Reading to 

j Thousandths. 

I Material for Problems: 
Grocers' bills. Menus. 
Rules for cooking. Ca- 
pacity of ice-house. Air 
space in rooms. Mate- 
rials needed for hats. 



Poetry: 'The Pied Piper 
of Hamelin," Browning. 

Prose: "Phases of Farm 
Life," Burroughs. 

"The Tragedies of the 
Nests," same author. 



Poetry: "The Pet Lamb," 
Wordsworth. 

"In School Days," Whit- 
tier. 

Poems by Eugene Field. 

Poems about birds. 

Prose: "The Swiss Family 
Robinson." 



Poetry: Memorial D a y 

poems. 
Prose: "Aladdin, or the 

Wonderful Lamp," from 

"Arabian Nights." 
"Spinning Wheel Stories," 

Louisa M. Alcott. 



New Process: Multiplying 
Decimals. 

Various Lines of Drill Con- 
tinued. 

Subjects for Problems: Di- 
mensions of beds for 
plants; number of plants 
or trees to a given space; 
distance traveled by 
Washington. Problems 
from geography lessons. 



Decimals Continued. 

Drills in Fractional Parts of 
Numbers. 

Materials for Problems : 
Plans for gardens, gar- 
den beds, farms, fields, 
fencing, planting, and 
butter-making. Make out 
dressmakers' bills in de- 
tail. 



New Process: Dividing with 
a Decimal Dividend. 

Tables. Gather up meas- 
urements of lines, areas 
and cubical contents used 
during the year, into 
tables. 

Summary of Year's Weath- 
er Record. 

Problems about Farm, Gar- 
den work, Games, and 
Athletic Fields. 



Compositions upon Various 

Topics Studied. 
Original Fairy Stories. 
Recitation of Memory 

Gems. 
School Diary and Notes 

upon Christopher Gist 

Continued. 
Dictation of Problems. 
Drill in Spelling and upon 

Mispronounced Words 

Continued. 
Reading: Lewis and Clark's 

expedition. 



THE ARTS 



Compositions: "Washing- 
ton's Journey." "Ranch 
Life." "Irrigation." "A 
Trip to California." 

Writing of Problems and 
Dictation Work. Contin- 
ue notes of Gist, and rec- 
ords in nature study. 

Reading: S c h o o 1 readers, 
and Pacific History Sto- 



Compositions: Work based 
on geography and nature 
study. 

Original Essay: "What I 
Should Like to Do in 
Life." 

All Forms of Drill of Pre- 
vious Months Continued 

Poems Listed for Reading 
Used as Dictation Exer 
cises. 

Reading: Short poems, and 
from the school readers. 



Formal Compositions Sum- 
ming up Results of Work 
in Other Branches. 

Oral Reproduction of 
"Aladdin's Lamp," and 
"Spinning Wheel Sto- 
ries." 

All Lines of Drill Contin- 
ued. 

Reading: From school read- 
ers, and geographical 
readers. Have pupils 
read their own favorite 
selections. 



Construction. Make cos- 
tumes for a school play. 
Draw, cut and make hats 
for dolls. Boys may make 
more pioneer articles. 

Drawing: Patterns for 
hats, garments and other 
articles to be made; map 
of North America. 

ColorWork. Paint Febru- 
ary landscape, and twifs. 
Dye materials for hats 
and for weaving. 

Illustrative Drawing: 
Scenes from "Ralph 
Ringwood," and Bur- 
roughs' s essays. 



Construction. Finish 
sewing, weaving and 
braiding already begun. 
Make model of "prairie 
schooner." 

Drawing. Plan for school 
garden, flower garden, 
back yard, parks, etc. 

Modeling. Make a model 
to explain irrigation. 

ColorWork. Make a color 
chart of the harvests of 
the month. Paint spring 
landscape. 

Illustrative Drawing: 
Scenes from "The Pied 
Piper of Hamelin," and 
from "Bird Enemies." 



Construction. Work in 
school garden. Make 
model of island home of 
"Swiss Family Robin- 
son." Make a model of 
a ship and of Fort Du- 
quesne. 

Drawing. Draw leaves 
and flowers. 

Color Work. Make 
sketches in color of scenes 
suggested by the litera- 
ture lessons. Paint birds, 
leaves and spring flowers. 



Work with Plants. 

Construction. Make a 
model of a porch, or a 
summer house; also fur- 
niture for it. Make cos- 
tumes for a little play 
to be given at close of 
term. 

Modeling. Model Missis- 
sippi Valley, and Atlan- 
tic slope. Make dishes 
for the doll-house. 

Drawing. Draw croquet 
ground and other figures 
needed in the arithmetic 
work. Finish chart of 
spring harvests. 



11 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Life in the Country . . . . " Frontispiece 

September 

Calendar 51 

Children Sowing Wheat 53 

Slip of Ivy. . 55 

Map of California, Pa., and Vicinity 61 

Map of Monongahela River = 63 

Map of Conrad Weiser's Route 65 

Pattern for Envelopes 71 

Fruit Rack 73 

October 

Calendar 78 

Cold-Frame 81 

Map of Monongahela Basin 85 

Map of Celoron's Route 88 

Hiawatha's Wedding Feast ' 91 

November 

Calendar 99 

Pioneer's Table 107 

Priscilla 109 

John Alden and Priscilla Ill 

Designs for Patchwork 115 

December 

Calendar 122 

Blockhouse 126 

Powder Horn .... 129 

13 



14 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Plan of Doll-House = ... 132 

Pattern for Shirt Waist 135 

Baskets 138 

Doll-House 140 

January 

Calendar 143 

Map of Portages 147 

Sewing Class 159 

Pioneer's Broom 161 

February 

Calendar 164 

Window Garden 166 

Conestoga Wagon, and Tavern 172 

Hats. Plan 177 

Hats. Patterns 179 

March 

Calendar 182 

Oregon Trail 187 

Map of Washington's Journey, 1753 189 

Plan for Flower Bed 194 

Plan for Back Yard 195 

April 

Calendar 200 

Fort Duquesne 205 

Washington and the French, 1754 206 

May 

Calendar 217 

Corner of a School Garden 219 

Plan of Croquet Ground 230 

Pottery 234 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



NATURE STUDY 

"The aim of nature study is to put the child into right relations 
with his environment." He is in the right relations when he has 
learned to what extent and in what way Nature will contribute to 
his success and enjoyment, if he studies and obeys her laws. 

Theoretically, the best approach to these right relations is along 
the road the race has traveled, although the child of to-day takes 
many short cuts, and thereby misses some interesting but dangerous 
experiences. 

Primitive man found in Nature both a friend and an enemy. As 
a friend, she supplied his needs. For food she gave him fruits, 
nuts, roots, fish, game, and grains. For shelter she provided caves, 
rocks, trees, branches, and skins; for clothing, bark, skins, leaves, 
wool, furs, and fibers. She furnished stones and other materials 
for weapons and tools. To add to his comfort and pleasure she 
gave the bright sunshine, the blue sky, the sparkling water, the 
gentle breezes, the song of birds, the beautiful grass, and the flowers. 
Best of all, she hid treasures for him to search for, and furnished 
opportunities for him to develop power. 

As an enemy. Nature was pitiless to primitive man. He froze in 
the ice and snow and cold of winter. He grew faint and sick under 
burning suns. Hurricanes destroyed his frail house. Floods 
drowned him, and famine made him its miserable victim. He ate 
every kind of natural food; if it was wholesome, he lived. Wild 
beasts united with Nature's inanimate forces to make life a long- 
drawn-out terror, or a fight to the death. When we add to this all 

15 



16 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

he suffered from superstitious fear, we have such a picture of that 
through which the race has risen that we are wiUing the child should 
take all the short cuts he can. 

Whether or not the theory of correspondence between the child's 
development and that of the race has as wide and definite 
application to education as is claimed " for it, need not be dis • 
cussed here. That it has value cannot be denied. Perhaps its 
greatest usefulness is in nature study and industrial history. The 
child does not have to study nature in order to satisfy his needs, as 
his remote ancestors did. He need not provide his own food, 
shelter, or clothing. Yet his intense and natural interest in all the 
primitive processes of supplying these wants goes far to prove that 
there is at least some relation between his development and that of 
the race. 

All careful observers of children know that a child left to himself, 
will, w^here there is any opportunity, study many phases of nature in 
the same ways that we may suppose the race did in its infancy. That 
is, the boy tries to find out where things come from, what they can 
do, and what he can do with them. Therefore, whatever we may 
think of the theory, if we follow the lead of the child, we shall make 
no attempt to teach nature in a systematic w^ay, from a scientific 
standpoint. The writer is in hearty sympathy with the child who 
would rather eat an orange than write formal statements about its 
parts. The effort to teach children the kinds of leaves, and the 
classifications of animals, is unprofitable to both teacher and pupil. 
Children at the age of nine or ten years cannot beneficially be inter- 
ested in the fine distinctions which make up a part of the sciences of 
botany and zoology. 

There are three reasons for our selection and arrangement of the 
topics given in the following pages : 

The three preceding bcoks of this series have presented topics 
taken from the fishing, the hunting, and the grazing stages of the 
race. It is assumed here that children have studied these subjects 



NATURK STUDY 17 

before reaching the fourth grade ; if they have not, it will probably 
be found that the topics are too simple to occupy the time of this 
year. 

The next stage, that of agriculture, is chosen for this grade 
partly because it is the next stage, but chiefly because it is so well 
adapted to the average ten-year-old child. It deals with reality, 
with contrivances, with activity, with conquest, and with life. It 
is serious business; it brings tangible results. A second reason 
for the choice is that simple farming, especially as it was carried on 
by the pioneers, is the A B C of many of our great industries. No 
one questions that some knowledge of these is indispensable to a 
good education. Thirdly, the work planned makes the right kind 
of foundation for a really scientific study of similar topics in ad- 
vanced school life. 

Comparatively few topics are listed, but if the farm, the vegetable 
garden, the growing of flowers, and the weather in relation to these, 
are studied as carefully as possible, it will take more time than most 
schools can give to nature study. 

No pains should be spared to have the children do things. It 
is far better to have the pupils do one-fourth of the work by means 
of their own experiments and observation, than to have all of the 
work done by the teacher's telling. For example, instead of giving 
them the formal description and classification of wood and bark 
often advised, we let the pupils find out by working w^ith wood, 
what color it is, whether hard or soft, whether or not it will split 
straight, whether or not it will make good boats, baskets, bows, 
arrows, etc. They study bark in the same way, by finding out 
whether or not it is good for baskets, cups, canoes, thread, dye- 
stuffs, etc. 

Since in this latitude nature rests in winter, much more active 
work has been planned for the autumn and spring than for the 
winter months. 

Finally, let no inexperienced teacher hesitate to undertake at 



18 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

least some part of the work. Take the attitude of a learner with 
the children: go to the farmer, the gardener, and the florist, and 
get expert advice. 

One of the serious drawbacks to being a primary teacher is that 
it does not seem to require much scholarship. Years ago this was 
perhaps true. But one of the inducements now to remaining in 
the work is that the efficient primary teacher constantly increases 
her scholarship. If this book shall fall into the hands of any who 
have not studied nature in its relation to our industrial progress, 
such teachers are assured that they have a wonderfully interesting 
field open to them, and one well worth their attention. 



GEOGRAPHY 

The teacher of the fourth grade must have clearly in mind the 
object of the work in geography, the mental action of the children 
in grasping geographical ideas, and the material which she intends 
to present. 

The chief aim of the work is to deepen the interest begun in the 
third year, so that the pupils will feel that the study of geography 
is its own reward. We teach the earth as a reservoir of mighty 
forces waiting to serve man if he is brave and patient enough to 
control and use them. Or we discover to the children a great 
treasure house full of precious things for those who are strong 
enough to unlock the door; or we may lead them to regard the earth 
as a bountiful mother, who richly rewards her children for all sin- 
cere effort to understand her. Geography should show the earth 
as the home of man — not only a home full of peace and comfort 
and variety, but a home full of opportunity for work and develop- 
ment. The question asked should ever be. What does nature offer 
man at each place studied, and what has he done with the oppor- 
tunities? The answer to this question gives us industrial history, 
which forms a considerable part of the work in this book, and w^hich 
is always of interest to children. 

Another source of interest is found in what may be called natural 
wonders. These form a connecting link between the wonderful in 
literature which the child has enjoyed in earlier life, and the prosaic 
facts of later studies. Niagara Falls, the ocean with its icebergs, 
the Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canon of the Colorado, 
Yosemite, the '*big trees," and the attractive features of California, 
make a series of lessons peculiarly adapted to the fourth grade. 
The teaching of these scenographic features is like leading the 

19 



20 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

children into enchanted regions full of beautiful surprises for those 
who will explore. 

In short, the chief consideration in te^^ching geography to children 
is to select topics which are both interesting and important. In 
our treatment of it nearly everything has been omitted which is 
not connected with people in a way that the child can understand. 

A quite subordinate aim is to impart a. fair amount of knowledge 
about relief, climate, drainage, plant and animal life, and man. 
Relations among these are brought out only incidentally, and no 
attempt is made at scientific exactness. For instance, what we call 
mathematical geography is omitted entirely. 

It must be remembered that there are but three ways of getting 
geographical ideas; by experience, by the imagination, and by 
reasoning. The work in home geography outlined here, is to be 
taught largely through observation; the geography of the regions 
beyond, mainly through the imagination. If the work planned for 
the third year has been done, the children will have a good stock 
of images mth which to build up pictures of the earth. If that 
work has not been done, it should be done at the outset, as far 
as giving primary geographical concepts is concerned. It is useless 
to try to go out into the vague beyond without preparation for the 
journey. When once the class is started, the aim should be to 
live in the region being studied. 

For material a few simple large topics should be used. In gen- 
eral our plan is to give, first, some idea of the round earth as a 
background upon which to place the regions studied during the 
year. Secondly, the geography of North America, with the town 
of California, Penn., as the starting point, is taken up. The place 
relations are worked out by following along the rivers and lakes, 
and trailing across the portages and mountains, first with the fur 
traders, and later with the pioneers. The adventures and life of 
both these classes — crude, simple, and strong as they were — are 
most attractive to children, and can be depended on to supply 



GEOGRAPHY SI 

genuine interest. The reason for selecting any particular topic is 
usually given under the month in which it comes. 

A few *'don'ts" may be permitted: 

Do not try to teach all that is offered here. Select that which is 
best adapted to your school. 

Do not teach the trip of a trading party in Geography, an explorer 
in History, and some hero in Literature at the same time. Hope- 
less confusion of ideas will be the result. 

Do not burden the pupils with details of the manufacture of any 
article, unless they can see or clea^rly understand the process. 



HISTORY 

The aim in teaching history to the primary grades is much the 
same as in teaching geography; that is, the chief purpose is to 
arouse a lasting interest in the subject. To this end we must select 
material that is especially adapted to the age of the pupils. 

History for children should be picturesque, simple, and centered 
around individuals or families. It should also be local, in so far as 
the region in which it is taught affords interesting material. Indus- 
trial rather than political history should be taught mainly, because 
the latter is too difficult for pupils below the grammar grades. 
Children are as likely to get as many wrong notions as right ones, 
when abstract historical ideas are presented to them. The begin- 
nings of the Middle West meet all these requirements for schools 
east of the Mississippi River. Therefore the story of the explorer, 
the Indian agent, the fur trader, and the pioneer, together with 
something of the struggle for supremacy between the English and 
the French, have been selected here. 

Children at the age we are considering want true stories, real 
heroes, and rapid action. This demand is admirably met by the 
adventures of Weiser, Celoron, Gist, Washington, and Lewis and 
Clark. The beginning of the struggle between the French and the 
English for possession of the Ohio Valley was simple and dramatic, 
and it gives enough of war to satisfy the demand of the boys for 
stories of fighting. 

The fur trade — with its simple barter, its Indian councils, its 
revelations of geography, its pictures of wild, free life — offers a 
fascinating subject to ten-year-old boys. Also, a knowledge of it 
lays a foundation for the study of the extensive and complicated 
business enterprises of a later day. 

22 



HISTORY 23 

The outlook of the early settler upon the possibilities of the 
New World was not unlike that of the child as he looks out upon 
life. And the rugged virtues that gained success for the one, are 
as much needed by the other. The motives, the character, and the 
achievements of all the leaders selected for study during the year 
are easily understood by children; and their virtues are certain to 
be admired and imitated. 

Again, a study of the foregoing topics makes the best introduction 
to the work in history for the upper grades. The explorer with 
his compass, the trader with his pack, the pioneer with gun 
and ax, appeal irresistibly to the imagination of the children. 
They share in the perils and exult in the discoveries of the 
explorer ; they take part in the dangers and help count the gains of 
the trader; and they sympathize with the privations and enjoy the 
successes of the pioneer. Students who have this background for 
the study of American history find it both pleasant and easy to 
fill in the foreground of their picture with our political and social 
institutions. 

There are two incidental advantages belonging to these topics 
that are too important to be overlooked. One is that they are 
intimately related to the geography of the year, which adds to the 
interest of both, and economizes time and effort for teacher and 
pupil. The other is that the characters held up for the admiration 
of the children are strong physically. This was true of both men 
and women. We should make much of this, because we must 
utilize every means of giving right physical ideals. 

The two greatest difficulties in teaching history are: first, to 
make it seem real; and, secondly, to show the relation between 
events. Little attention need be paid to the latter in primary work. 
The emphasis should be laid upon vivid pictures of events, leaving 
the chronological and causal relations for more advanced classes. 

The teacher may use one or all of the following means for making 
history seem real: 



(^4 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

1. Lively and clear oral presentation. 

2. The reading of graphic and vivid description and narration. 

3. Reading from original sources. 

4. The frequent use of maps. 

5. Construction of models of historic objects. 

6. The reading, writing, and acting of historical plays. 

Under the outline for each month the most apprxjpriate methods 
are suggested. 



LITERATURE 

In the teaching of literature to the fourth grade the following 
points should be considered: 
I. Why teach literature? 
II. What literature should be taught? 

III. How present the selections? 

IV. How find out whether or not the pupils have mastered a 

selection? 

I. The limits of this book do not permit a full discussion of all 
these points. With regard to the first, it may be assumed that 
teachers now recognize the importance of literature as a means of 
culture. To quote Professor Sampson, "Literature shows prin- 
ciples of conduct in action." It thus shows the pupils human life 
as nothing else except actual experience does. It helps them to form 
a right ideal of living and then inspires them to realize that ideal. 
For an excellent discussion of the value of literature in character- 
building the reader is referred to Dr. Charles McMurry's ''Special 
Method in Reading." 

II. In selecting literature the teacher should see to it that genuine 
classics are chosen, that they are adapted to the grade, and, if 
possible, that they are related to the other work. In most instances 
entire classics are advised rather than extracts. For a good dis- 
cussion of why long, entire classics are preferable to extracts or 
short ones, the reader is referred to ''Special Method in Reading," 
by Dr. Charles McMurry, and to "Literary Landmarks," by Mary 
E. Burt. Lack of space forbids more than a recapitulation of 
the arguments here. The points in favor of a long classic are: 

1. The pupil's interest is greater, as it accumulates through 
several weeks. 

25 



26 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

2. The moral effect is much greater, since the results of a long 

course of action can be shown in an entire long classic. 

3. If the classic deals with history, the chief events of a whole 

period may be brought out. 

4. The authors power and purpose are best shown in a long 

classic. 

The chief arguments against the long classic are : 

1. The school readers are, with few exceptions, made up of short 

pieces; hence, if long classics are used great additional ex- 
pense is incurred. This can be obviated in part by the plan 
of individual reading outlined under Language. Moreover, so 
much of the best literature may be had in cheap form now, 
that it is not difficult to meet the expense. 

2. In the study of short selections pupils read samples of many 

different authors, and can afterward become fully acquainted 
with their works. This might happen, but it seldom does. 
Every one knows that the majority of people are not saving 
money to buy the works of great authors. It is not certain 
that a careful study of a few classics would give a taste for 
reading, but it is worth trying. It is certain that the reading 
of fragments has failed in the main to instil a love for good 
literature. 

The classics chosen for the year *'set a full table," but all need 
not be used. The selections in most cases are either directly 
related to some topic in the other branches which precedes or fol- 
lows; or they bring out some trait of character which it is desira- 
ble to emphasize. 

III. Below are given some suggestions for teaching a classic, 
which will be found effective, and at the same time will give variety: 

1. The teacher simply reads, if the text is very simple. 

2. Or she reads with comment and explanation. 



LITERATURE 27 

3. The teacher tells the story. 

4. The teacher illustrates with pictures, drawings, models, etc. 

5. The teacher gives the historic or geographic setting, if this is 

needed. 

6. The pupils read for themselves. 

7. One pupil reads to the rest of the class. 

IV. Some ways of testing the pupils' grasp of what has been pre- 
sented are: 

1. Have them retell the story as language work. 

2. Have them illustrate with drawing, painting, modeling, etc. 

3. Have them describe pictures that might be made from the story. 

4. Have them memorize choice extracts. 

5. Have pupils read orally, which will enable the teacher to judge 

how well the selection is understood. 

6. Have them select and discuss their favorite character, scene, 

event, etc. 

7. Have them act the story. This is the best of all devices both for 

getting the thought of a classic and for expressing it. 

In the monthly outlines which follow, numerous suggestions for 
presenting the various selections are offered; but circumstances 
vary so much in different schools, that the plans cannot always be 
followed. 

In our desire to know whether or not we have taught a child 
literature we may test the thought he has gained, but we ought not 
to pry into the emotions it may have aroused. Thought may be 
common property, but feelings is individual, and peculiarly one's 
owm. Whatever the child expresses spontaneously should meet 
with a sympathetic response from the teacher, but if we insist upon 
this expression, we encourage mawkishness and sometimes untruth. 
If a boy has appreciated **The Chambered Nautilus," he may not 
wish to make public his new resolutions, but they are none the less 



28 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

real. If he has been impressed by the deUcacy of Nello's conduct 
in regard to his portrait of the miller's daughter in "A Dog of 
Flanders," we should not like him better for telling the whole 
school he intends to behave in a like way. So, while it is true that 
the chief object in teaching literature is io cultivate the emotions, 
we must take the results on faith. We cannot give grades for 
higher ideals and stronger aspirations. 



ARITHMETIC 

The writer of this book is becoming more and more convinced 
that arithmetic, which seems to us older ones a most real and 
practical subject, is to the child quite unreal and unrelated to his 
daily life. A somewhat systematic succession of processes is 
offered here, beginning with long division, which is reached but 
not taught in the third year, and continuing to division of decimals. 
But this is done to make these outlines usable by teachers who are 
not yet ready to cut loose from the order given in most text-books in 
arithmetic. It is the belief of the author that all the arithmetic that 
should be taught to the fourth grade can be found in the constructive 
work, and in the geography, history and nature study, although the 
order may not be quite the same as that to which we are 
accustomed. 

The learning of number through its use in construction supplies 
the pupils with a motive for learning, which more than makes up 
for the seeming lack of system. For example, if he needs to sub- 
tract fractions in making envelopes, teach him to do it, no matter 
whether he yet knows long division or not. 

In some schools it may not be advisable at present to make any 
radical departure from the usual plan of teaching arithmetic; but 
teachers will be able each successive year to modify the present 
routine more and more by adding practical problems which relate 
to the child's life. It is much easier to do this than it is to modify 
some other subjects in the curriculum. The practical featiu'e 
of the changes appeals to the good sense of most parents, and if 
any object seriously, their children may continue to use the book 
problems. In the short space allotted to arithmetic here, no 
attempt is made to present methods of teaching the subject. The 
greatest service that can be rendered teachers is to point out where 

29 



30 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

arithmetic may properly come into the work of the child as a help 
in mastering his other studies. 

The best opportunities for number in the work outlined for this 
year, are found in the study of plants, in decorative and constructive 
work, and in the observation of the weather. The arithmetic grow- 
ing out of the geography and history, and out of the farm lessons, 
may not have any more reality in the life of the child than the 
problems in the ordinary text-book. But it receives a share of 
the interest the pupils have in the subjects, and is therefore better 
material than the unrelated book problems. For example, dividing 
the distance Lewis and Clark traveled by the number of days they 
spent on the way is not related to any need of the child to-day, but 
it intensifies the conception of that journey, and saves bringing up 
new and useless images. Two sources of problems that are espe- 
cially good are rules for cooking, and the cutting of patterns and 
making of dolls' garments. The use of fractions here is frequent 
and very helpful. If boys object to these problems, they may work 
out problems connected with some local industry. Here (in Cali- 
fornia, Penn.,) we choose problems about brick-making, coal- 
mining, freight and express business, traffic on the river, market- 
gardening, farming, and the business of the baker, grocer, fruit 
dealer, and confectioner. We also use the dry-goods and hard- 
ware stores, the restaurants, and other local industries, to give 
variety to the problems. 

It must not be forgotten that drill, and a great deal of it, is 
necessary in acquiring any art, and arithmetic is no exception. 
Experience in applying numbers must be had in order to give 
reality to the processes, and repetition is needed to secure facility. 



LANGUAGE 

Under language are included reading, spelling, written compo- 
sition, oral speech, and the study of pictures and songs. 

Reading 

By the time pupils have reached the fourth grade they have 
mastered the machinery of reading. The purpose of the work is 
now twofold: first, to improve expression, if that is needed, and it 
usually is; and, secondly, to enable the pupils to gain stores of new 
thought. 

In teaching reading it is convenient to discriminate rather 
sharply between what may be called the mechanical part of reading, 
and the getting and giving of thought and feeling. 

The mechanics of oral reading are: 

I. Attitude or position. 
II. Management of the book or paper. 

III. Articulation. 

IV. Pronunciation. • 

V. Grasping the meaning of words. 
VI. Looking ahead and uttering words in groups or phrases. 

I. Children should be taught how to stand and how to sit, 
whether any other physical training is given or not, and proper atti- 
tudes should be required constantly until correct habits are formed. 

II. Suggestions may be given as to managing the book properly, 
but care should be taken not to have this occupy the attention of 
the pupil. A child should be allowed to hold a heavy book with 
both hands. If he holds it too near his face, his eyes should be 
tested to see whether or not they are normal. 

III. If good work has been done with phonics in the lower 

31 



32 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

grades, nothing remains but to keep up the habit of distinct articu- 
lation acquired there. But if this matter has been neglected, the 
sooner a working knowledge of the sounds of letters and diacritical 
marks is given, the better. 

It is well to make lists of words that are imperfectly articulated, 
end r^ive daily drill upon them. 

IV. Three plans are suggested for teaching the pronunciation of 



1. The teacher may select the new words and teach them three 

day3 before they will be needed. For example: On Monday 

th:) words for Thursday's reading lesson will be taught. On 

Tuesday, a brief drill on this list will be given and Friday's 

new words taught. On Wednesday, new words for Monday 

will be introduced, and the lists already taught will be reviewed. 

On Thursday, a list for the next Tuesday will be begun, and 

the Ics3on containing the words presented on Monday will be 

read. Cy these repeated drills nearly all of the pupils will be 

able to pronounce the words at sight as they occur in the 

reader. This will be done more smoothly if practice is given 

in pronouncing the more difficult words in phrases. 

Th3 objection to the teaching of new words before they are 

n:c.i3J, as in the plan given above, is that the words taken out of 

Ihcir connection have little interest, and the work lacks motive on 

"n? part of the pupil. Hence it is a difficult exercise for the teacher. 

She must invent devices for keeping up interest. 

2. The teacher may simply pronounce the new words whenever 

they are met with in the text. This should not be done often, 
but it may sometimes be done to good advantage in reading 
long classics where the aim is to get a large part of the story 
in a short time. 

3. The remaining plan for teaching new words is best presented 

undjr motive. 



LANGUAGE . 33 

V. The meaning of all words not understood should be taught 
in connection with the pronunciation. 

VI . Training in looking ahead: 

1. Insist that no pupil shall begin to read a sentence until he has 

looked to the end. 

2. Fourth-year pupils are old enough to have some sort of a literary 

society; or, at least, they may give select readings to the 
school occasionally. For these performances a high standard 
should be set, and the pupils should be encouraged to make 
very careful preparation. They must learn to look at the 
school and not at the book as they read, and in order to do 
this they must learn to look ahead. The motive is so much 
stronger in this special work than in the ordinary reading that 
a poor reader often makes surprising improvement. 

3. Sometimes the following device proves useful: Write a number 

of short, easy sentences on the board. Tell the pupils that 
after you designate a certain sentence to be read, the pupil who 
can get ready to read first may do so, mthout waiting to raise 
the hand, or to rise. iVfter a few have read in this way, say to 
the class that if any one who reads a sentence is able to go on 
with the next one he may do so. This results in his looking 
at the second sentence while he reads the first, which is precisely 
the result desired. By continuing this practice for some time, 
the habit of looking ahead will be formed. 

THOUGHT AND FEELING IN READING 

When the points given above have been mastered, pupils are 
ready to think out and express the full meaning of a selection. 
The following suggestions may prove helpful : 

1. Standard or ideal: 

See that the pupils have a correct ideal or standard of reading. 
They should try to read important facts so as to bring out their 



34 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

importance. Descriptions should be read as though they were 
true or at least probable. Fictitious stories must be given as though 
they were possible and interesting, and beautiful thoughts and 
fancies should be so expressed as to show that the reader appre- 
ciates the beauty and wishes others to do so. Some children think 
it is enough if they only pronounce all of the words right. Such 
can be helped by giving them a high standard by which to judge 
their performance. 
2. The imagination: 

Much of the reading matter suitable for the fourth grade con- 
sists of mental pictures. Unless these are made, the reading will 
be poor. If the child lacks the experience necessary to form the 
pictures, the teacher must do her best, by explanation and illustra- 
tion, to supply the need. For instance, the writer failed to have 
one of her classes read with any appreciation "The Discontented 
Pine Tree," until she learned that none of the pupils had ever 
been in the woods, when she was able to overcome the difficulty. 

If the pupil has a store of images with which to build the pictures, 
he can be stimulated to do so by questions which he must answer, 
not by the text, but from the picture in his mind. For example, 

Still sits the schoolhouse by the road, 

A ragged beggar sunning, 
Around it still the sumacs grow, 

And blackberry vines are running. 

Do not ask where the schoolhouse is, for a boy may answer, "By 
the road," and still be thinking about base-ball. Do not ask what 
is growing around it, because a girl can answer that from glancing 
at the text, and all the time think of her new dress. But ask, 
What color is this house? Of what is it made? Could one drive 
close to the door? Which way does the door face in your picture? 
What time of day do you imagine it is? These questions compel 
the pupil to make the suggested mental picture. Be careful not to 
ask useless questions or those that lead away from the picture. 



LANGUAGE 35 

3. Motive: 

The greatest hindrance to good reading, or, for that matter, to 
good work of any kind in school, is lack of motive. Why should 
any one take the trouble to read well when every one is looking 
instead of listening? Do not even children see the absurdity of 
being told to give the thought when the teacher and all the mem- 
bers of the class already have the thought, or are looking on and 
can easily get it for themselves? 

The only natural motive for reading aloud is to give information 
or pleasure. It is not easy to manage the work of a fourth grade 
so as to use this motive, but it may be done to some extent by 
what is known as individual reading. That is, each pupil reads 
some selection which the others do not have. It is true, the range 
of suitable books from which to select is not so wide as in the 
higher grades ; still, there is a large amount of reading matter 
which can be used for his purpose. 

Whenever a child has the privilege of giving a selected reading, 
the burden of learning the new words is placed upon him. The 
rule should be inflexible that if he fails with the words he shall 
not go on. Many children learn the words and practice the reading 
at their homes. Where this cannot be done, the teacher may give 
assistance after school or at odd moments. Pupils may be trained 
to take great pride in a good performance. They really gain more 
power to read well by giving one carefully prepared selection, 
than by reading a dozen times in class in an indifferent way. 
The pleasure of reading that to which the other pupils will 
gladly listen, supplies a strong motive both for preparation and 
reading. 

This individual reading may be done at various times in the day's 
program. It may come during the opening exercises, just before 
the close of a session, at the beginning of the afternoon, during the 
regular reading lesson, and as an important part of the "Friday 
afternoon exercises." 



36 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

In a school of fifty pupils it has been found practicable to have 
each pupil give an individual selection once in two weeks. This 
is an average of five daily. One pupil may read during the opening 
exercises, one at the opening or closing of the afternoon session. In 
the language class one entire composition may be read (for subjects 
see Language outline), and two of the children may read something 
outside their books during the period for reading. 

If all the above suggestions are faithfully carried out, there will 
still be lions in the pathway of the child learning to read. These 
are in the form of difficult language, such as involved or inverted 
sentences; long sentences; and poetry, where both the rhyme and 
the rhythm make the reading hard. Sometimes the thought is too 
general or too abstract, and in other pieces the feeling is too far 
beyond the experience of the child. In all of these cases, the teacher 
must be patient and not expect too much. 



Aims: 



Essentials: 



Exercises: 



Language Training 

Fluency. 
Clearness. 
Correctness. 
Vocabulary. 



Thought. 

Motive. 

Practice. 



All recitation work. 

Copying. 

Dictation. 

Composition. 

Drill work for certain forms. 



LANGUAGE 37 

Much of the language training done in the schools, and many of 
the language books used, seem to be based upon the idea that the 
object of the work is to secure correct forms of expression. This 
aim is entirely too narrow. Correctness should not be even the 
chief aim in the mind of either teacher or pupil. Too much em- 
phasis upon correct form develops self-consciousness, and hinders 
that spontaneity, that easy flow of thought which is the most desir- 
able characteristic of language. This should come first, not only 
because it is the most important, but because it is acquired v/ith 
the utmost difficulty after the critical habit has been formed. The 
power of adequate expression is not like a statue, that may be 
hewn and hacked and carved into shape; it is, rather, like a 
tree, a thing of life, a growth which must be allowed to get a certain 
start before pruning begins. Too early cutting back stunts it for 
life, therefore the first aim of the language lesson is to get from 
the pupil a body of thought, full and spontaneous. 

The second aim is not correctness of form, but clearness. Chil- 
dren in the fourth year are not too young to strive consciously for 
clearness of expression. This ideal acts as a guide to prevent the 
pupils' thought from being lost in a field of verbiage, which mi^^ht 
be the result if fluency were the only aim. Clearness and concise- 
ness are enjoyed by children, and they readily respond to the 
direction, ''Tell exactly what you mean." May not the prevalent 
use of slang be somewhat due to a reaction from artinci:il forms in 
the schoolroom? Nowhere else must one answer every question 
with a full sentence, or express thought in stereotyped forms, as is 
often required in the analysis of problems. It is no wonder that 
children bound into the open air of the playground with slang 
phrases that have a whole sentence in a single word. 

However this may be, the day when we expressed our common 
thoughts in long and elegant sentences, as was the case a hundred 
years ago, if we may believe the old novels, has gone by. To-day 
in the business world there is great demand for concise habits of 



38 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

speech. The telegraph and the telephone and the rush of modern 
life demand that our pupils be trained to say much in few words, 
and to say it with unmistakable clearness. 

The third aim, i.e., correctness of speech, is so generally accepted 
that it needs no discussion. 

The last aim, the building of a good vocabulary, is perhaps 
logically included under clearness; for we have not expressed our 
thoughts with the utmost clearness until we have chosen the right 
word. But it is easier for the teacher to hold before his mind 
separately and as a means to clearness the forming of a good 
vocabulary for each child. 

With these four aims in mind, let us discuss the essentials for 
realizing them. 

The first thing necessary in order to write a book, or a sermon, a 
letter, or a school composition, is to have something to say. In 
school this something to be said should be true, important, inter- 
esting and related to the other work of the school. To drill pupils 
upon the mere forms of speech, without having those forms grow 
out of the child's need of expressing some thought, is to make words 
more important than ideas, and form more important than content. 
It is like valuing the dress above the wearer. There is no time in 
school for language exercises which do not deal with thought that 
is of vital interest to the pupil. In the outlines given in this book, 
to be used from month to month, all the language work with one 
exception grows naturally out of the other lessons. 

It is not enough for good language training that the pupils have 
plenty to say. Even with this requisite, the work may become the 
veriest drudgery unless the motives of the children are taken into 
consideration. 

In the ideal school, all the necessary practice in writing would 
grow out of some desire the child has for putting his thoughts into 
writing. Under right conditions he would never be required to 
write pages and pages for the teacher to grade and throw into the 



LANGUAGE 39 

wastebasket. No teacher would be stimulated to do his best work 
in written composition if the thing he wrote were to be presently 
thrown into the wastebasket. He would be more likely to do his 
best when writing an application for a better position, or an 
article for an educational paper. It is the same with the children: 
the stronger the motive, the better the performance. 

It is not easy to provide enough suitable motives for all the lan- 
guage work that is needed, but much more may be done in this 
direction than usually is. 

Among the devices that may be used the following are suggested : 

1. The pupils may write requests for privileges, with the under- 
standing that these will not be granted unless the writer has done 
his best. This plan is more effective than appears at first sight. It 
is true that each item is short, but it must be remembered that im- 
provement in the power to express oneself, is in proportion to hearty 
effort rather than to quantity. A pupil gains more by writing prop- 
erly a request to take a certain book from a case, or to go to a 
window and paint a certain tree, than he does by writing a whole 
page in a careless way. Some teachers set aside a portion of the 
blackboard for this purT>ose, while others allow pupils to place notes 
upon their desks. 

2. A second opportunity for .anguage work is found in the writ- 
ing of greetings, wishes, invitations, replies to invitations, notes, 
letters, and plans for holidays and special days at school. 

The greetings and wishes may be extended to the teacher, to 
other teachers, to the pupils of other schools, to parents and friends. 
The notes and invitations have nearly as wide a range. The let- 
ters should be addressed to real people and mailed. Letter- 
writing even in the fourth grade affords one of the best means of 
language training and supplies the most natural motive. Pupils 
who could not be induced to take pains when they knew the 
work was for practice only, have been known voluntarily to 



40 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

make the fifth copy of a letter in order to send the best specimen 
possible. 

3. Another motive is found in the universal desire to tell that 
which is newest in the mind. Parents do not talk eagerly of last 
season's news, nor save last year's daily newspaper for their enter- 
tainment. Emerson says: "Not more does a newly acquired coin 
in a boy's pocket burn to be spent, than does a newly acquired 
thought burn for expression." Since we are always teaching new- 
truth, we should be able to take advantage, in our language work,, 
of this love of expressing the new. 

4. The child's individual experience in which the school has not 
shared often affords good material for language, and enables the 
teacher to get close to the life of the pupil. Here are some suitable 
topics : 

"How I Spent Saturday." "How I Spent Sunday." 

"The Kinds of Housework I Have Done and How I Did 
Them." 

"What I Have Cooked and How I Did It." 

Boys' occupations: Have any kind of work that boys do care- 
fully described. 
(These last three and similar topics enable the teacher to incul- 
cate respect for labor.) 

"The Pets I Have; Their Ways and Their Needs." 

"How Games Are Played." 

"How One Receives a Visitor." 

Description of a journey, excursion or picnic. 

Report of an entertainment. Interesting church occasions. Fairs. 
Meeting with distinguished people. 

Reports of observation of birds, trees, flowers, the river, and any 
experiments that are being carried on. 

Reports of books w-hich have been read. 

The motive in writing or giving any of these topics orally, is the 



LANGUAGE 41 

same as in individual reading — i.e., to tell something which the 
other members of the class do not know. 

5. The ^\Titer is indebted to Prof. Wilbur Jackman for the fol- 
lowing suggestion, which, while it does not supply a motive, does 
add variety to reproduction work either oral or written. It may 
be called changing the point of view. For instance, when the story 
of ''Agoonac" had been carefully worked out with a class, and the 
interest was no longer fresh enough to make the pupils enjoy telling 
the story on paper, they were asked to write a letter to this imaginary 
child, telling her all the changes she must make in her life if she 
were to come to our school. This new point of view gave zest to 
the work, quite in contrast to that felt when the children were 
merely to write all they could remember of a given story. 

In reproducing the story of "Gilbert the Norman Boy," from 
the book, "The Ten Boys," the pupils were told to tell ten ways in 
which life is easier, happier or more interesting now. In some 
such way as this a class may approach written reproduction of 
material in history, literature and geography with a much fresher 
interest than when the stereotyped plan is followed of writing the 
lesson as it has been presented orally. 

After we have supplied our pupils with thought and motive; 
that is, have given them something to say and a reason for saying 
it, we are ready to consider the matter of practice for the purpose 
of giving facility. 

Practice in language naturally comes under two heads — oral and 
written. 

Oral practice is had in reciting the various lessons of the day. 
The teacher should remember that the aim whenever the pupil 
talks — in arithmetic, science, geography, etc. — is to have him ex- 
press himself with fluency, clearness and correctness, and with an 
increasingly good vocabulary. 

To gain fluency, ask the pupil if he has told it all. 



42 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

To secure clearness, tell the pupil to say exactly what he means. 

To train in correct habits of speech, constantly correct the most 
glaring inaccuracies. 

To improve the vocabulary, suggest the best word and plan to 
have it used repeatedly. 

In written language the objects are the same, and the same sug- 
gestions for attaining these objects should be followed. 

But facility in written speech is far more difficult to acquire than 
facility in oral speech, because of what may be called the mechanics 
of composition. These are penmanship, spelling, the use of capital 
letters, punctuation marks, headings, margin, dividing words at 
the end of lines, and paragraphing. Something of all these is 
known when the children enter the fourth year, and marked im- 
provement should be made as the year goes on. 

The exercises should be of the following kinds: Copying ex- 
tracts from literature, from books rather than from the blackboard ; 
writing from dictation, especially problems; keeping notes of 
various lessons; reproducing lessons from history, literature, 
geography, etc.; writing descriptions; writing upon the topics 
suggested in the remarks about individual experience; keeping a 
weather record. In addition to these there should be the writing 
of correct forms for drill, such as "have seen," and "have gone." 
In securing correct forms, the language text-book prepared for 
primary schools gives valuable aid. 

Many of the pieces of work advised here are short. The writer 
is convinced that far too much writing is required in most schools. 
But it is not too much to expect that every week one long, carefully 
written composition shall be prepared by each pupil. 

MISCELLANEOUS HINTS 

1. When correcting papers, do not point out errors that you dc 
not have corrected. It emphasizes and deepens the wrong pic- 
ture. 



LANGUAGE 43 

2. Work for but one or two things at a time, — heading, margin 
or capital letters. Include spelling in every lesson. 

3. Correct the work while it is going on, or immediately after. 
Children do not care for work the next day. 

4. Do not correct all the mistakes. 

5. Constantly keep your own standard before the children, by 
asking : 

Have they told it all? 

Have they said just what they mean? 

Can they .find any mistakes? 

Have they used the best word? 

6. Have faith in the child's natural tendency to grow through 
both conscious and unconscious imitation of the models constantly 
kept before him. 

Spelling 
In teaching spelling the following points should be considered: 

I. What words are to be learned. 
II. How they are learned. 
III. Assigning and studying the lesson, 
IV Reciting the lesson. 

V. Dealing with the words missed, if any. 

I. The words for spelling in this grade should be taken from the 
daily lessons. The aim should be not to teach a pupil long columns 
of words which he may not use for years ; but to give him complete 
command of such words as he adds to his vocabulary to meet the 
growing needs of his life, both in school and out. Complete com- 
mand of a word may be said to include the ability to understand it 
when it is heard and when found on the printed page, as well as the 
power to use it correctly in speaking and in writing. The last use 
necessitates knowing how to spell. 



44 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

II. The spelling of words is learned in two ways: incidentally 
whenever a new word is needed, and from a formal spelling exercise 
or drill. 

The former is much the better plan, because it has a natural 
motive. Most children are willing to learn things the need of 
which they see; hence, the ideal school would be so arranged that 
the pupils would need to write often all the words we expect them 
to have in their vocabulary, thus fixing the correct form by fre- 
quent use. It is the firm belief of the writer that in any school 
where there is a considerable amount of composition writing, the 
pupils really learn more spelling from practice than from the set 
spelling lesson. However this may be, we have not the ideal 
school yet, and have not enough of the right kind of practice 
in writing words, so we must resort to drill, or the formal spelling 
lesson. 

III. Children should be taught how to study a spelling lesson; and 
since the pupils' study begins as soon as the teacher begins to go 
over the list she is assigning, these two topics of assigning and 
studying may be treated together. 

In beginning the year's w^ork in a fourth grade the teacher should 
take considerable time to assign the spelling lesson, unless she has 
been promoted with the grade, and is certain the class knows how 
to study. She must make a careful selection of the words, and the 
list should not be too long. Next she should teach the pronun- 
ciation thoroughly, and the meaning as wxll as the child is able to 
grasp it. Children should never be required to study the spelling 
of words which they cannot use in speaking. 

The next step is to train the pupils to ^ook over the list carefully, 
to see which words are spelled as they are pronounced. Here is 
the place to help the pupil. It must be remembered that learning 
to spell consists in attending to the jorms of words. If a word is 
spelled as it sounds, it needs no attention ; if it is not, then attention 
must be directed toward the point where the order of letters varies 



LANGUAGE 45 

from what would be expected, or where the order cannot be deter- 
mined without undue stress upon a syllable. 

If there is an obscure vowel sound, note it. 

Teach the pupils to cross out silent letters, or otherwise mark 
them, in order to fix attention upon them. 

Point out alphabetical equivalents. 

Have the pupils decide whether more than one difficult com- 
bination is found in a word. Focus attention upon the diffi- 
culties. 

If this plan of going over a lesson is followed faithfully for a few 
weeks, the pupils form the habit of taking up the study of a list of 
words intelligently, and as soon as the teacher begins to write, they 
are ready to offer suggestions for mastering the words. After a 
time the teacher need give no help except in getting the correct 
pronunciation and meaning. The plan outlined above takes a 
great deal of time at first, but it is an economy in the end, because 
the children if left to themselves waste an enormous amount of 
time in merely naming over the letters of a word. 

After this preliminary study with the teacher, the pupils should 
write the words many times as they study the lesson. 

It is granted that some children may be w^hat is called "ear- 
minded," and learn to name the letters more easily than they can 
recall their forms and write them ; but it is not a question of what 
is easy, but of what is needed. And what every person needs is the 
ability to make the forms of words rapidly and correctly. This 
skill is best acquired by attending to forms, i.e., by writing, rather 
than by naming the letters in oral spelling. 

IV. If the words have been carefully written a number of times 
in preparing the lesson, it does not matter so much how it is recited, 
but the written test is preferable to the oral. 

V. The plan given below for dealing with mis-spelled words 
has been found useful. Each pupil has a blank book and should 
rule the pages in double vertical columns. 



46 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



He should copy the lesson correctly and neatly in the left-hand 
column, thus: 



L 


journey 




2. 


pansies 




3. 


neighbor 




4. 


heroes 


lieroes 


5. 


council 





If he misses a word in the spelling recitation, as heroes, for exam- 
ple, he should copy that in the right-hand column. In this way, 
as the weeks go by he makes up his own spelling book, and a list 
of words that are hard for him as well. If in any review he misses 
one of the words previously spelled right, it should be copied in 
the right-hand column. This is better than using the blank book 
to spell in, because some words are sure to be missed, and it is 
better than giving a list back to a pupil with a mis-spelled word 
marked; in either case he has the wrong form before him. 



THE ARTS 

Under this head are included the various forms of expression in 
which the hand plays an important part. These are drawing and 
sketching, painting, plan-drawing, map-making, modeling in sand, 
clay or pulp, making models of objects, and making objects them- 
selves. The last two, for want of a better term, are grouped 
under the phrase constructive work, or making. 

The constructive work here is planned for those schools that 
have no course in manual training, and consequently have no tools 
or materials except those the pupils can bring, or the school board 
be persuaded to supply. When one goes into the ordinary 
schoolroom and sees nothing but books, writing material and 
blackboards, the outlook for handicraft is most discouraging. But 
the situation is not so bad as it seems. The most encouraging 
thing is that the children themselves are interested in hand work. 
More than one boy has been punished for surreptitiously weaving 
bright yarn about four pins driven into a spool, when he was sup- 
posed to be reading something from a book. If the work is rightly 
managed it is sure to find a ready response in the pupils. 

The first step is for the teacher to see clearly what the work is 
for. She must be not only convinced of its educational value, but 
able to make out a strong case for it in talking with parents. She 
may present the four arguments given below: 

1. It is needed to give reality to historical ideas. This is made 

necessary by the increasing use of machinery, the division of 
labor, and the centralizing of production in large factories. 

2. Hand work is a form of expression, and expression stimulates 

thought. 

3. The skill acquired is useful in practical life. 

47 



48 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

4. If the individual passes through the same stages of development 
as the race, then he must have hand work, since the race has 
had it. 

By way of comment it may be added that the invention of labor- 
saving machinery, and the increased facilities for transportation 
and communication, have resulted in such changes in both home 
life and wage-earning that the heads of older people whirl with 
the rapidity of the revolution. Children are simply dazed by the 
kind of world they find themselves in, and cannot understand it 
at all. 

In a well-to-do home to-day a boy of ten is wakened by an 
electric bell, the button of which his mother pushes, or he is roused 
by the whistle of a big mill full of specialized labor. He lies half 
awake for a moment in a bed the mattress of which is made by 
machinery at one factory, the springs at another, the iron or brass 
bedstead at another, and the sheets and blankets at still another. 

His grandfather very likely slept on a feather bed or straw tick, 
made at home, with home-made blankets, sheets and bed- 
quilts. The bedstead was home-made or made at the nearest 
cabinet shop. 

This boy bathes in a porcelain-lined steel tub made by a secret 
process, in water heated and brought to him by a mechanism he 
does not understand. He uses soap from a big factory which he 
knows nothing about. He combs his hair with a celluloid comb 
made by a patent process. He dresses in clothing every article 
of which may have been bought, ready made, at a store. There 
is no sentiment about these garments. He did not see the sheep 
washed and sheared, he did not watch the wool picked and greased, 
nor did he ride with it to the carding mill. He did not hear his 
mother spinning before he came down in the morning, and when he 
came in from play. He did not loiter about to see that ever-new 
mystery of dyeing the skeins of yarn, with bark he had helped to 



THE ARTS 49 

gather. He did not wait eagerly for the cloth to come home from 
the weaver's, and for some one to make the new suit to replace the 
one that was getting small and thin. 

His breakfast may show as great a change from the old life: 
steam-cooked cereals, ''prepared" flour for hot cakes, butter made 
at a creamery, or from other ingredients than cream, steak which 
has come half-way across the continent in a refrigerator car, and 
syrup bought in a can. 

The house is heated by steam, or hot water, or hot air, or gas, 
so this boy has not even the privilege of splitting wood, and bringing 
in kindlings. His father goes to his place of business or work in 
a trolley car, or an automobile, or he rides a bicycle, so our boy 
does not have the duty of looking after a horse. There is almost 
nothing for him to do, but possibly sweep or clean the walks. His 
father, if a laborer or a mechanic, goes to work in a great mill of 
some kind where he does but one kind of work. There is seldom 
any room for the boy with him. Or if the father is what may be 
termed a business man, his business is likely to be so complicated 
that the boy can understand very little of it. 

In short, he lives in a home that he cannot help to improve unless 
he leaves school and becomes a wage-earner. On the other hand, 
his grandfather could take part to some extent in the producing of 
nearly everything that gave him pleasure or comfort. This boy 
comes to school from his home of finished products, and he reads 
in literature and history, in geography and science, of the slow 
progress of the past, and we wonder why he forgets it. 

It is only a degree better for the boy's sister. A few of the simple 
household arts are still carried on in the home; but machinery, 
cheap transportation, and factory labor, have wrought great changes 
in the daily routine of women in even very poor homes. 

It is not the intention here to decry modern life, but to point 
out that while middle-aged people understand it because they 
have seen most of its evolution, the generation now coming upon 



50 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

the stage of action does not understand, and cannot because of the 
lack of perspective. Children can understand it only through 
industrial history, and industrial history can be known 07ily through 
experience. Machinery and centralization are not to be denounced, 
but appreciated. And the only way this can come about is by the 
child's realizing through his own efforts, either at home or at 
school, how slow and costly hand work is, and how effective group 
work is. 

With these conditions in mind the writer has selected a number 
of occupations — chiefly those of Americans in our own community 
in its earlier days — and urges that the child shall work at them, on 
a mimic scale, of course, not because he will ever need to make 
the articles he thus learns to construct, but because he needs the 
experience. 

If a teacher accepts the conclusion reached above, the next step 
is to select such of the occupations suggested as seem to her of 
most value, and such as she has skill in, or is willing to try to 
learn. The third step is to plan to have the work done by a few of 
the children at a time, either in the morning before school, or after 
the regular work of the day is over. Much can be done by encour- 
aging them to make certain things at home. These remarks apply 
to the construction work which might be objected to by some 
parents if done in school. Drawing, modeling and painting are so 
common now that it does not require any special tact to keep a 
place for them on the program. 




The farmer is busy this month in caring for 
such crops as are not already harvested, in sow- 
ing winter wheat, and with his fall plowing. To 
make the children learn a catalogue of these 
things, with a few general statements about each, 
is as poor teaching as it is to give the scientific 
classification of plants before the pupils have 
any need for or interest in such a classification. 
Therefore a few typical kinds of work are se- 
lected, to be taught as fully and as concretely 
as circumstances will permit. 

If possible, the school should be taken to visit 
a farm, a brushy pasture, a swamp, and a wood. 



ffl'S^'^l^l- 



52 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

At the farm the vegetable garden, the corn, the wheat, and the 
flower garden should be observed carefully. If it is impracti- 
cable to take the school on such a trip, then certain pupils should 
be encouraged to go, if any opportunity offers. The teacher 
should go even if the pupils cannot. In many instances some of 
the pupils will have visited a farm during the summer vacation. 
Whatever was learned in this way should be utilized. 

I. THE FARM 

a. Sowing Winter Wheat: 

The sowing of winter wheat is an important and simple piece of 
work, and one which can be experimented with in almost any 
school yard, or in a box in the room if no better place can be had. 
The sowing of wheat recalls and enlarges the study of grains and 
soils in the second year. A study of the wheat area of Pennsylvania 
reviews the geography of this state which was taught in the third 
year. Get a copy of the State Agricultural Report, and locate 
wheat areas from it. 

It will be seen that on the one hand this subject is related to 
apperceptive material already in the child's mind, while on the other 
it ^ays a foundation for an extended study of the great grain indus- 
tries later on. 

Lesson on Wheat 

1. Kind of soil suitable. 

2. Preparation of soil. 

3. Plowing, harrowing, rolling. 

4. Sowing the seed, by hand or drill. 

5. Sowing grass seed at same time. Why? Covering the seed. 

6. Quantity per acre. 

If practicable, a wheat field showing the stubble should be visited, 
as well as a freshly sown field. Later, if possible, the same field 
should be observed when the wheat is well up. 



54 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

b. The Corn Harvest: 

Corn is the best type of important plants tliat /are .affected by 

early frosts. In Pennsylvania, north of about 40 degrees, the 

greatest concern of the farmer is to grow corn betweeri the late 

frosts of May and those that may be feared in September. It is 

true that this line of danger bends to the north as one goes west from 

the Alleghany Mountains, so no exact statement can be made; 

but there is no better way of learning how the actual corn belt 

deflects from a parallel, than by this very study of the effect of 

frost. 

" Points to be Brought Out 

1. H6w the farmerjknows that the corn is ripe. 

2. Does frost hurt the corn in the fall?/ Sta^lks or ears? ~ 

3. Mode of cutting: by hand (corn cutter); by machine. 

4. Making into shocks or stouts. How bound. 

5. Ears picked off, husked in field, drawn to barn, shed or granar\\ 

Stalks left in field, or — 

6. Stouts drawn to barn, ears picked off and husked, and stalks 

stored under shed or in stack for winter usC , 

7. Drying the corn, shelling, shredding, grinding. 

8. Early use of corn husks for mats, mattresses and baskets. 

9. Yield of corn. Compare quantity of seed with harvest. Com- 

pare bushel of shelled corn with bushel of ears. 
10. Where does corn grow best? 

A corn field should be visited also and compared with the wheat 
ffeld.. If pupils have no opportunity to see corn growing, it would 
n;>l:bejdifficult to hekvea, shock shipped from a farm to a city school. 
A truck farjper would bring one to the market for a small sum. 

^5 11. THE FLOWER GARDEN 

Since children learn best through their own activity, the study 
of the vegetable garden, flowers and fruits should be carried on by 
experiment. 



SEPTEMBER — NATURE STUDY 



55 



Experiments: 

1. Cut slips from geraniums, wandering Jew, ivy, and various 
other plants, and place in bottles of water. Encourage your pupils 
to do the same thing at home. Watch for rootlets, draw and record 
in the note book for nature study. (See illustration.) 

2. Sow pansy seed in boxes of earth, for transplanting to the 
cold-frame later. (Ask advice of the nearest florist.) Encour- 
age the pupils to do the same at 
home. 

3. Plan a window garden of 
house plants. Use slips the pupils 
start, and try to get a few fine 
plants from people who are taking 
them from. the ground. The time 
for this, of course, varies with the 
latitude. Note the effect upon 
plants of bringing them in-doors. 

4. Experiment with hyacinths 
and tulips. The work of growing 
these is simple, and most inter- 
esting to children. Consult the 
nearest florist, or any successful 

grower, or a catalogue of bulbs for winter blooming, which will 
give explicit directions. Or follow the directions below, which are 
condensed from Eben E. Rexford's ** Flowers. How To Grow 
Them." 




SLIP OF IVY 



Order the bulbs early in September. Get a compost ready consisting 
of old, well-rotted cow manure, ordinary garden loam, and sand, in 
equal parts. Be sure the manure is old. Be sure to use the sand. 
Mix the compost well. Plant the bulbs as soon as they come, watering 
them well. Set them in a cellar or any cool, dark place, under a box 
or in a trench in the ground covered with boards, coal ashes, leaves, 
anything to exclude light. Provide for drainage. By the end of two 
months the roots should be well grown. 



56 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

III. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 

On the visit to the farm the vegetable garden should be observed 
with a view to answering the following questions : * 

1. What vegetables have matured? Radishes, onions, lettuce. 

2. Which ones have grown enough to be eaten, but have not ripened 

seeds? Beans, peas, cucumbers, etc. 

3. Which seem to be grown, but show no signs of producing seeds? 

4. Which look as though they might continue to grow? Cabbage, 

turnips, beets. 

5. Has the frost affected any yet? If so, which ones? How? 

6. Are any of the plants seemingly choked out by w^eeds? 

The commonest weeds should be observed as to how their seeds 
are distributed, but there is more zest in this work after children 
have learned from personal experience what persistent enemies 
weeds are. 

Experiments: 

1. Get enough small cucumbers to fill two glass pint jars. Pack 
one jar with salt, the other without. Observe what happens. 
Note the color of those which are salted. Compare with those 
found in the market. 

2. Procure some sweet corn. Cut it from the cob with a sharp 
knife. Weigh, and spread it on a platter, to dry in the sun. (A 
wooden plate that can be bought for a cent will answer very well.) 
Scald a similar quantity, and put it to dry. Encourage the pupils to 
try at home the drying of both the cooked and the uncooked. 
Keep for Thanksgiving entertainment. 

* The teacher may use her discretion with regard to calling attention to insect 
ravages; but it does not do a child much good to be told that certain insects 
destroy plants, until he has learned by personal gxP^""'^"*^^ '^'^^^ much pains it 
costs to rear plants. 



SEPTEMBER — NATURE STUDY 57 

3. Pare apples, cut into quarters, string, and hang in the sunniest 
place. Watch to see whether they will dry or decay. Encourage 
the pupils to do the same at home; they may suspend the fruit over 
the kitchen stove. Weigh before and after drying. Save for 
Thanksgiving. 

4. If peaches are plentiful, experiment with them in the same 
way. The drying of fruits might be left until October. 

IV. FIELD AND WOODS TRIP 

Before going to the woods the children may be told what trees 
ripen their seeds in early summer — i.e., elms, soft maples, or silver 
maples, poplars, cottonwoods and willows. The seedlings of these 
trees should be looked for. It is a great pleasure to find a little 
tree. 

The seeds of nut trees, fruit trees, and fine shade trees should 
be gathered and plans made for rearing seedling trees. The plain- 
est and best directions for doing this are to be found in Hodge's 
''Nature Study and Life," Chapter XXII. 

During the trip to the swamp, rushes for baskets and flags for 
mats should be gathered. The pasture and woods should give 
ferns and autumn leaves for decoration,* nuts for study and for 
use at Thanksgiving, yellow oak bark for dyeing yellow, silver 
maple bark for gray, hemlock bark for tan color, butternut and 
walnut bark and shells for brown. It is not likely that all these 
treasures will be found in any one place, but what is lacking may 
be procured by corresponding with people in various sections. 
Seeds should be gathered at all these places, and carefully com- 
pared, and those needed for sowing should be kept. 

Young plants should be looked for everywhere to try to determine 
how late in the season seeds will germinate if they are in the 
earth. 

* Great care must be taken not to gather poisonous plants. 



58 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

V. THE WEATHER RECORD 

Observations of the weather should be made from the stand- 
pomt of the farmer during this month. He wants warm, sunny 
weather to finish ripening his crops, to dry them after they are cut, 
and to enable him to store them in good condition. He needs 
enough rain to soften the ground so he can do fall plowing. He 
also hopes the frost will not come until all his crops that would be 
injured by it have been gathered. Hence, the pupils should note 
carefully the clear days, and the rainfall, and watch especially for 
frosts. They should compare the date of the first frost in the 
southern part of the state, with that in the northern part, and that 
of the low regions with that of the mountains. This can be done 
by watching the newspapers carefully for such reports, and by 
corresponding with schools in the regions to be compared. 

Suggestive Questions 

1. When did the first frost come? 

2. What plants were injured most? 

3. How did they show it? 

4. What ones were not hurt at all? 

5. What fruits, if any, are injured by frost? 

6. Are any improved by it? 

7. How protect plants from frost? Carry them in. Cover them. 

Build fires. 

GEOGRAPHY 

I. THE EARTH AS A WHOLE 

Before the child reaches the third year, he has vague notions 
that the earth is round and very large. He has heard stories of 
travel in distant lands, or he may have friends or relatives who 
live "awav off," and he knows that it takes a long time for a letter 



SEPTEMBER — GEOGRAPHY 59 

or a package to reach them. If they come on a visit, the journey 
takes long, even on a fast train. 

Better still, some of the pupils have taken trips. Many of them 
know that the Chinese, whom they have seen, come from the other 
side of the earth, that some of their neighbors were soldiers in 
the Philippines, that oranges and bananas come from ''down south" 
and seal skins from "up north," and that foreigners come from the 
''old country across the big ocean." In these and many similar 
ways, the idea has gradually taken shape in the pupil's mind that 
the world is very large, and can be traveled around, and that the 
various regions differ greatly one from the other. 

In the third year these notions have been gathered up and made 
somewhat definite by explicit teaching. But the concept of the 
earth as an enormous globe is too difficult to be gained in one 
year; so it is called up and enlarged at the beginning of the 
fourth year, and the zones and continents are added. These 
simple ideas of the continents, oceans, zones, and size of the earth, 
make a background for the more detailed work in geography that 
follows; and they are continually kept in mind by a calendar of 
the world's harvests from month to month, and by the reading of 
journeys, voyages and explorations. 

Suggestions 
The Round Earth: 

1. Use the story of "The Round Ball That Floats in the Air," 
from "Seven Little Sisters." 

2. Tell the pupils to shut their eyes, and to imagine that they are 
away up in the air, and see fields and more big fields, and hills 
beyond, and rivers, and great stretches of water. Enlarge their 
pictures and yours as much as possible. . Imagine you are in a 
balloon, and go on and on. 

3. Try to imagine crossing to the Pacific on a railway train, 
then crossing the ocean to Asia, then overland again to the Atlantic 
and so on back home. 



60 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

4. Fancy yourself stationary above the earth, and let it roll under 
you. Tell the pupils what you would see, 

5. Use the globe frequently before showing flat maps of the 
continents. Be sure to let the children handle the globe for them- 
selves. To help the children see why the earth looks flat to us, 
use the old comparison of a fly on a globe as large as the largest 
house. 

6. Teach names and location of the continents and oceaiis very 
slowly, giving repeated drills, and using the globe again and again. 
Avoid Mercator's projection for this early work. 

7. Under zones, teach in a simple way that there are five great 
regions on the earth: Two are circles, and three are somewhat like 
broad bands with very irregular edges. One of the circles covers 
the northern part of the earth, the other the southern. Both have 
long, dark winters, and very short summers, and are so cold that 
neither flowers, fruit, trees, nor any plants grow there, except a 
kind of moss. 

Teach the middle belt as a vast region where there is never 
frost except upon high mountains. Enlarge upon this idea during 
the year by frequent references to conditions in the torrid zone, 
and by the calendar of tropical harvests. 

With regard to the temperate zones, teach that we live in one, 
and that there is another one much like it south of the hot belt. 
Since nearly all of the geography for the year is in this zone, no 
further special teaching need be done, except to keep clearly before 
the classes the fact that this is the temperate zone. 

8. The Little Chronicle publishes each month a calendar of the 
harvests of the world. Select from the list a few of the products 
best known to the children. Mark on a map of the world the place 
they are grown. How long will it take them to reach us? The 
contrast in dates of harvest between the south temperate zone and 
ours is especially helpful later in learning the alternation of rea- 
sons, i.e., summer in the southern hemisphere during our winter. 



SEPTEMBER — GEOGRAPHY 



61 



11. MAP WORK 

Recall the map work of last year by making a map of the home 
village large enough to include the surrounding villages of Coal 
Centre, Marchand, and Granville.* Include railroads, river, 




coal tipple, private coal railroad and the roads leading out of the 

tOT\Tl. 

Draw this map on the floor, or on paper and lay it on the floor. 



* The map work and the outline of iron working is intended to be illustrative 
only. Teachers in other sections are expected to work out from the home as a 
center, and to teach whatever important industries are near a" hand. 



62 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Or, better, model it on the sand table. A convenient scale is one 
foot to the mile. (See illustration, p. 01.) 

A second map may be made to extend up the river to Brownsville 
(P^nn.), thus including the lower course of the Redstone, and as 
far dowTi as the river Monongahela. (See illustration, p. 63.) 

A third map may take in Pittsburg. The floor of the front of 
a schoolroom, or a long blackboard is admirably adapted to these 
long, narrow maps of the river valley. 



III. IRON AND STEEL 

Assuming that coal mining has been taught in the third year, 
the next local industry to teach, in addition to farming, is iron and 
steel. 

Work out in a simple way the following points: 

1. Iron ore, where it is found,' appearance (procure specimens), 

and how it is carried to the furnace. 

2. Making pig iron — filling the furnace; why coal or coke is put 

in, why limestone is mixed in, letting the melted mixture run 
out, cooling the melted iron. Melting up pig iron and blow- 
ing air through it in just the right way makes it into steel. 
This is the simple explanation to give children. It is useless 
to try to teach the numerous modifications and the various 
appliances found in the different mills. 

After this brief account of the making of iron and steel has been 
learned, the making of several articles should be taught, such as 
rails, wire, tin-plate, iron pipes or tubes and castings. 

In connection with this subject locate Monessen, Donora, 
McKeesport, Duquesne, Braddock, and Homestead. Point out 
on the map the railroads that bring ore to Pittsburg. 



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64 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

HISTORY 

The topic in history for September is peculiarly rich in its con- 
tent and relations. In the third year the most important of the 
seaboard colonies were studied, and some notions of the life of the 
early settlers gained. Much simple work about the Indians also 
has been given. In the fourth year the pupils are ready to study 
another step in the history of our country, one of the most important 
steps ever taken, namely, the settlement of the Middle West. 
This settlement was preceded by numerous interesting and impor- 
tant trips across the mountains, for both commercial and military 
purposes, all of which make good material for the intermediate 
grades. 

The journey of Conrad Weiser brings out in strong relief several 
facts in history well worth teaching, in the relation of the English 
and the French, the relation of the English and the Indians, the 
relation of the various eastern tribes with one another, the impor- 
tance of the fur trade, and the manner of holding Indian councils. 
The Alleghany Mountains, and the location of the Kiskiminetas, 
the Allegheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio, are brought out 
in the story. 

Again, the date of the council having been determined by the 
corn harvest, the dependence upon the corn during Weiser's stay 
brings into practical life the poetic legend of Mondamin in "Hia- 
watha.'' Moreover, the bringing of the gifts and the message to 
the Indians from the Quakers, shows the true Quaker spirit at 
work. It is just what is needed to recall and vivify the general 
ideas which the children already have of the Quakers 

The work may be done somewhat as follows: 

1. Locate the English, French, and Spanish claims in 1748. This 
will be the first use made by the pupils of their knowledge of 
North America as a continent. Refer to wall maps, and 



66 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

sketch large map on blackboard, because printed maps have 
too many confusing details. 

2. Locate chief English settlements. This is the best way to 

review the settlement taught in the third year. 
If the pupils have not had the work as outlined in the third year 
book on the continent, No. 2 may be omitted, and the class told 
simply that the English and French were at war, and that the French 
w^ere coaxing and bribing the Indians in the western part of Penn- 
sylvania to help them. To prevent this, the Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania sent presents to the Indians at Logstown, and a message 
asking them to be better friends with the English. 

3. Show picture of Weiser. 

4. Read his journal with comments. (It is too hard reading for 

fourth-grade children.) Mark his routes upon the black- 
board map. (See map, p. 65.) 

5. Discuss the start, mode of travel, inns, leaving settled parts, 

camping, carrying the present, crossing streams, drying the 
clothing, overtaking the men carrying the present, climbing 
the mountains, arrival at the Allegheny River, the canoe and 
wampum, the visit to Alliquippi, the arrival at Logstown, 
saluting the town, sending back for the goods, getting wampum 
belts, the meaning of this, the first, second, and third coun- 
cils, and the result. Have the councils acted. 

The material for Conrad Weiser' s journey is not so accessible 
as might be wished. The best source is his own journal, to be 
included in ''The Beginning of the West," nearly ready, by the 
writer of this book. 

A good account, which can be adapted by the teacher, is found 
in Chapter X of "Conrad Weiser," by Joseph Walton, Philadel- 
phia, 1900. 

If none of the accounts of Conrad Weiser can be had, selections 
may be made from ''Stories of Pennsylvania," by W^alton and 



SEPTEMBER HISTORY 67 

Brumbaugh. In another state, stories of local history might be 
substituted. 

This line of work recalls what the children learned in the third 
year of the Quakers and the Indians, and of the geography of Penn- 
sylvania. It is the best possible review of those topics, because 
it uses the old facts in learning new ones. 



LITERATURE 

Longfellow's "Hiawatha" is chosen for September. It has 
all the requirements of a classic for the fourth grade, being gen- 
uine literature, and full of action and interest. It is closely related 
to the history on the one hand, and to a part of the nature study 
for the month on the other. It serves admirably to lead the child 
from the region of fancy in which he has hitherto lived into the 
land of real history. It is true a few of the stories have been used 
in the first and second years, but their interest and value have by 
no means been exhausted. 

Suggestions for Teaching "Hiawatha" 

Use the reading period. If it is not advisable to have the poem 
read as the reading lesson, use it for morning exercises and for 
Friday afternoons. For the text use "The Song of Hiawatha," 
Riverside Literature Series, No. 13.* This edition contains an 
account, written by Miss Alice Longfellow, of the play of "Hiawatha" 
as performed on the shore of Lake Huron during recent years. It 
gives nine fine illustrations of Indian life, together with pictures 
of eleven articles of Indian dress and thirty-five Indian utensils. 
There are also very full and helpful notes, and a complete vocab- 
ulary of the Indian words used in the poem. 

* Double number, price 30 cents. 



68 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Read the introduction with the class. Pronounce all Indian 
names for your pupils and do not insist that they be learned. Use 
the following or similar questions: 

1. Who is meant by "me"? Line 1. 

2. What kind of legends is he going to tell? Lines 2-9. 

3. Where did these legends come from? Lines 11-17. 

4. From w^hom did he hear them? Lines 19-20. 

5. Where did Nawadaha get them? Lines 41-59. 

6. What did he sing? Lines 60-66. 

7. Who should listen to this song? Lines 67-79. 

8. Who else should listen? Lines 79-87. 

9. And who else? Lines 88-100. (Explain these lines.) 

10. Who are the last people Mr. Longfellow says shall listen? 
Lines 100-115. (Explain the comparison if necessary.) 

L The Peace-Pipe: 

Read eight lines. Get the pupils' ideas of the Quarry, and of 
Gitche Manito. Explain if necessary. 

Read on to line 27. Find out whether or not the pupils know of 
starting fire by friction. If so, do not explain. Nothing disgusts 
children more than to be told things they already know. In all 
the suggestions for literature and reading that follow, it is taken 
for granted that the teacher shall in every case find out whether or 
not the proposed explanation is necessary. 

Comment on the beauty of lines 32 to 41. 

Read on to line 50. Use a map of the. United States to show 
the region. This will not mean much, but it helps a little. 

Read on to line 78. Help the pupils to picture this meeting. 
If any one in the community has seen the O jib ways play "Hia- 
watha,"* try to have him describe this scene to the school. 

Have the speech of Gitche Manito read through by one pupil. 
It spoils the unity of it to change the reader. Then ask questions. 



SEPTEMBER LITERATURE 69 

1. What does Gitche Manito call himself? 

2. What ten things has he given them? 

3. What question does he ask them? 

4. How does he feel about their quarrels? 

5. Where does he say their strength is? 

6. Their danger? 

7. W^hat does he command? 

8. What does he promise? 

9. What does he threaten? 

10. What are his last requests, beginning, ''Bathe now in the 

stream," etc? 

If at all practicable, read this out of doors, and try to have the 
children enter into the spirit of it. Do not undertake this if it is 
likely to result in disorder. Have one after another read the part 
of the Spirit, while the others try to show by facial expression and 
gesture what the Indians did. 

11. The Four Winds: 

The conquering of the bear by Mudjekeewis will be enjoyed 
by children if it is read, and it calls for little comment. 

The fanciful characterization of the three winds does not appeal 
to children so strongly as the killing of the bear. But they may 
decide which wind is best described. If they must defend their 
choice, they will read or listen with attention. It is interesting to 
see how many vote for the north wind as being the finest. 

III. Hiawatha: 

The children have heard so much of Hiawatha as a baby that the 
part describing his infancy may'be read over by the teacher without 
stopping to dwell upon it. The study may begin at Hiawatha's 
huntings If that has been learned in a lower grade, and remem- 
bered, it should be touched but lightly. If it is new, go over it 
carefully. It is greatly enjoyed by children. 



70 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

IV. Hiawatha s Visit to the West-Wind: 

This may be omitted. Neither Hterature nor the school should 
seem to approve of a boy's taking revenge upon his father for any 
reason whatever. The story may be continued by saying that 
Hiawatha as a young man is described by lines 1-25. He starts 
out on a journey, and is dressed as told by lines 38-49. Tell that, 
once on this journey, his pace he slackened, lines 252-289. 

The limits of this book do not permit even this very brief analysis 
to be carried farther, but the remainder of Part First, of the edition 
advised, should be given during this month. This closes with 
Hiawatha and Minnehaha going homeward through the forest, 
and may be regarded as the end of the story for the time being. 
Especial care should be taken to show what kind of young man 
Hiawatha was. This is well brought out in "INIondamin." 

ARITHMETIC 

Begin with easy work. The children will seem to have for- 
gotten much during the vacation. Recall to them gradually the 
processes they worked with last year. Be sure that they can add 
readily, and subtract and multiply with some facility, before begin- 
ning the work of long division. Defer that until October, if possible. 
When it is to be taught, see that the children feel the need of it. 
If several questions have come up in which there is a process they 
do not know, and which it is convenient to use, they will be willing 
to master it. A child learns a process in arithmetic quickly if he 
needs it; while he learns very slowly if no motive is offered but a 
possible use in a dim and distant future. 

Suggestive Questions 
1. Find the distance from Heidelberg (Pa.) to Logstown, as 
traveled by Conrad Weiser. Compare with the distance by rail- 
road now. Which is the longer, and how much? Find the average 



SEPTEMBER — ARITHMETIC 



71 



distance per day traveled by Weiser. If he had traveled twenty- 
three miles per day, how long would it have taken him to make the 
trip? If he had averaged twenty miles? Eighteen miles? Six- 
teen miles? Twenty-one miles? 

2. Notice the date of any foreign postmark and the date of re- 
ceipt here. Find the distance traveled, by using a good map of 
steamship lines. Divide the distance by the number of days it 
has taken for the letter to come. 




PATTERN FOR ENVELOPE 

Cut on the continuous line. Fold on the broken line. 



3. Treat letters in the United States in the same way, and divide 
by the number of hours. If the letters used belong to the pupils, 
enough interest is excited to give no small help in the drudgery of 
long division. 

4. Make envelopes of different sizes, calculating how large they 
may be made from a given sheet, with as little waste as possible. 
(See illustration.) 

Vary by making the flap one-half the width of the envelope, 
one-third the width, and two-thirds. Vary the ends also. 



72 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Exam'ples: 

Give each pupil a sheet of paper 18'' x 24''. Tell him to measure 
it. Draw for him a diagram like figure. Have him copy it 
exactly. Ask questions as follows : 

How long is the sheet? 

How wide? Give answer in feet and inches. Find area in square 

feet and square inches. 
If the long flap is equal in width to either of the main parts of the 

envelope, how wide is it? 
If each of the short flaps is 2" in depth, how long will the envelope 

be? 
If they are 3" each? If 4" each? If 2i" each? If 3i" each? 
If the long flap is 4" wide, how wide will the envelope be? If 5"? 

If 6"? 
If the long flap is as wide as the envelope, and each short flap just 

half the length of the envelope, how large will it be? 
Find area in square inches. 

Use sheets of paper of different sizes, and give more questions. 

5. Find amount of lumber needed for a fence 18' long, having 
3 strips, 2Y wide and 1" thick. Posts 4' x 4" x 2", and 2' apart. 
Vary the conditions until this work is well understood. 

6. How much lumber is needed for a fruit rack 4' x 3', the 
outside strips 2J" wide, and the cross strips 1" apart? The cross 
strips are supposed to extend to the outer edge of the frame. (See 
illustration, p. 73.) 

Vary the conditions by making the strips wider or narrower, 
and by changing the spaces between. 

7. Calculate material needed for wigwam. Make with four 
sides, with five, with six. Have each two pupils make a small 
one, say one foot high, on the sand table ; or all may aid in making 
one large one. Allow plenty of material for lapping over. Cut 



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74 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

the sections as isosceles triangles and find area by completing the 
rectangle and taking one half. 

8. Calculate material needed for an English flag to put over 
Croghan's trading house. 

The wide-awake teacher will constantly find opportunities for 
arithmetic growing out of the subjects that are studied. 



LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

"How I Spent My Vacation." 

''Signs of Late Summer." 

*' A Visit to a Farm.' 

"How We Might Recognize the Torrid Zone." 

"Our Trip to the Woods." 

For both oral and written reproduction use material from 
"Hiawatha," and from the Journal of Conrad Weiser. 

Ill the written work aim to establish the standard discussed in 
the ii.troduction, and insist upon correct spelling and the proper 
arrangement of the work upon the paper. 

Begin to keep a weather record. 

Copy extracts from "Hiawatha." 

Begin to make up a list of words commonly mispronounced, 
and give daily drills upon them. 

Vv^ork persistently to correct some grammatical error, as the 
wrorg use of the various forms of be; or, if this is not needed, take 
up "don't" for "doesn't," "have did" for "have done," and 
"dane" for "did." 



SEPTEMBER — LANGUAGE 75 

READING 

Select from the school readers any lessons bearing in any way 
upon the main ideas of the month — i.e., the great size of the earth, 
autumn, harvesting, Indian history, and the geography of Penn- 
sylvania. Read, also, selections dealing with conduct. Read 
"Hiawatha" if practicable. Use Carpenter's Geographical Read- 
ers throughout the year. The Little Journey Books, published by 
A. Flanagan Co., will also be found valuable in this connection. 

Spelling was treated so fully in the general introduction that it 
is not necessary to take it up separately under the different months. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY 

''The Waning of the Day," Breton. 
"A Waving Wheat Field," Volkmann. 
''September," Zuber. 

SONGS 

Recall songs learned in the previous year. Teach "Rain on the 
Roof," from the Chapel Hymnal (published by the State Normal 
School, California, Penn.), and "A Little Man Bought Him a Big 
Bass Drum." 

THE ARTS 

I. CONSTRUCTION WORK 

Have pupils make such Indian articles as may be needed in 
their acting of Conrad Weiser's council, and such as their interest 
in "Hiawatha" might lead them to undertake. 

For Conrad Weiser's council a wigwam may be made by using 
poles for a support and covering with strips of strong manila paper. 
Since the paper tears easily, unbleached muslin is better, or the 
wigwam may be made by merely fastening shawls over the poles. 



76 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

This wigwam may be placed in one corner of the room, and the 
cloak room may be regarded as George Croghan's house. The 
other articles needed are wampum belts, strings of wampum, a 
canoe, a headdress, a hunting shirt, leggings, moccasins, bows 
and arrows, a tomahawk, and a peace-pipe. If it is decided to 
dramatize ''Hiawatha" instead of Weiser's council, these same 
articles are needed, together with dress for women and ''basswood 
bowls." 

If it is not practicable to do the dramatic work, the pupils should 
be encouraged to make as many utensils as possible, and to dress an 
Indian doll. Pieces of chamois skin may be used instead of deer- 
skin. 

A headdress like No. 3 in the appendix to "Hiawatha" may be 
finished with a band of quills encircling the head, in the absence of 
horns; or it may have two bunches of quills like those worn by 
Kabaoosa. 

Articles that are needed in connection with other lines of work are 
bags of seeds, envelopes, and book covers to hold written work. 
The boys may make a rack for drying apples, and a fence about 
their garden. 

II. MODELING 

The modeling of clay should include the making of Indian dishes, 
and the work at the sand table should be a map of Pennsylvania 
for the purpose of showing Weiser's route. 

III. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

However difficult it may be found to carry on the hand work 
advised here, there is no school where it is impossible to practice 
illustrative drawing; and the less there is done of the other kinds 
of constructive work, the more drawing there should be. The 
poem, "Hiawatha," and the story of Conrad Weiser will supply 
plenty of subjects. 



SEPTEMBER — THE ARTS 77 

Let the pupils illustrate any of the following: 

1. Conrad Weiser's start. 

2. Weiser in camp at night in the forest. 

3. Weiser overtakes the pack train. 

4. He dines with the Indian queen. 

5. His arrival at Logstown. 

6. George Croghan's trading house. 

7. The council. 

8. The English flag. 

From "Hiawatha" these scenes may be drawn: 

1. The peace-pipe. I, lines 28-39. 

2. Mudjekeewis and the Great Bear. H, 10-25. 

3. Wabun bringing the morning. 11, 84-88; or, better, 99-1 OG. 

4. Kabibonokka and Shingebis. Any picture the pupil prefers. 
57 Wigwam of Nokomis. HI, 65-75. 

6. Deer. Ill, 170-172. 

7. Hiawatha ready for hunting. Ill, 173-175. 

8. Deer in thicket. Ill, 200-220. 
(Study Landseer's pictures of deer.) 

9. Hiawatha and Mondamin. 

10. Chibiabos, the musician. VI, 25-65. 

11. Kwasind and his father. VI, 113-133. 

12. Kwasind and the Beaver. VI, 130-170. 

13. Hiawatha and Kwasind clearing the river. VII, 115-140. 

14. Hiawatha fishing. Any scene from VIII. 

15. Hiawatha and Minnehaha. 

IV. WORKING DRAWINGS 

Make working drawings of the envelopes, the rack, and a fence. 
Draw maps to a scale. 




NATURE STUDY 

By the beginning of this month, if the 
teacher has been patient and persistent and 
enthusiastic, the nature study will be well 
started. This does not mean that many facts have been learned, 
or that these facts have been classified ; but interest is growing, 
and this is the object of the work. 

L THE FARM 

Another visit to the farm should be made as soon as possible; if 
the whole school cannot go, in some cases one pupil may be 
sent. If none of the fourth grade can go, a boy from 
the eighth grade, or even the high school, would find 
such a trip invaluable. He would learn much, be- 
cause he would have a motive for observing. The fact 
that he is to go into a lower grade and tell in good 

language what 
he has seen will 
stimulate him 



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78 



OCTOBER NATURE STUDY 79 

to do his best. It affords an opportunity for that cooperation 
that should obtain in every school. 

If neither of the above plans is practicable, then the best device 
for keeping up interest in the farm is through correspondence with 
some school in the country. It would be easy to arrange with a 
teacher in the rural districts to have her pupils keep a journal of 
the work done on a farm through October and November. This 
would afford an admirable motive for language work for the country 
children. The letters could be sent every week, and should record 
exactly what is done. This would vary in detail for each farm, 
but in a large way the work is much the same everywhere. 
Besides the daily journal, the children should send accounts of how 
certain work is carried on — for instance, the digging and storing 
of potatoes, the sowing of rye, the gathering of apples, and the 
harvesting of buckwheat, if this grain is raised. 

These records and descriptions written by one child to another 
have a fresh interest never found in the printed page. The writer's 
owTi pupils never read any books with the avidity with which they de- 
voured letters from the pupils at Booker T. Washington's school at 
Tuskeegee, describing sugar, rice and cotton culture. There is a 
personal element in the written letter that in some way fascinates 
the attention of the pupils.* 

Special Topics to be Carefully Written Up 

1. Digging, drying, and storing potatoes. 

2. Sowing rye. 

3. Work with corn. 

4. Gathering apples. Cider-making. Boiling cider. Making 

cider apple sauce, or apple butter. 

5. Gathering, drying, storing or marketing garden vegetables. 

* The author of this book will cheerfully undertake to arrange such a cor- 
respondence as is suggested above, between any teacher in a crowded city school, 
and some competent teacher in tlie country. Address, Anna Buckbee, State 
Normal School, California, Penn. 



80 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

6. Gathering, drying, cleaning, and storing any garden seeds. 

7. Drying pumpkins. 

8. Fall plowing. 

II. THE WINDOW GARDEN 

This may consist of: First, any plants the children have been 
encouraged to rear for themselves, and which they would like to 
bring to school; secondly, slips started in September, and which 
may be planted in earth some time this month; thirdly, potted 
plants, such as geraniums, which generous people may be induced 
to give to the school; fourthly, a box of earth for experiments. 
Instead of consulting a book on how to manage these plants, the 
teacher is advised to ask the advice of the nearest florist, or, better, 
that of some successful woman in the locality whose windows are 
admired by everybody. The latter will appreciate the compliment 
of having her success recognized, and will thus become a friend of 
the school. Besides, her advice is sure to be adapted to the locality. 

III. THE COLD-FRAME— VINES 

In the planning and making of both the bed and the frame, the 
teacher is advised to consult the nearest florist. Should there be 
none in the vicinity, there is nearly always some one w^ho knows 
how to manage a simple bed and frame. Full and plain directions 
are given in the magazine called Country Life in America, for Novem- 
ber, 1903. The cold-frame must be made on the sunniest side of 
the schoolhouse. It may be made against the foundation wall. 
(See illustration, p. 81.) 

Visit a vineyard and beg some cuttings of vines. " Cut the pieces 
into lengths of two buds each, tie in a bunch and bury six inches 
deep, butt ends up, in a well-drained spot." 

IV. FIELD AND WOODS TRIP 
It is best to make four such excursions, one each week, going 
successively to a farm, a neglected pasture, a swamp, and the 
woods. These trips may be combined when necessary. 



OCTOBER NATURE STUDY 



81 




--^^K<itck o^ CoU^V^^Nvxe.-*- 



In general 
the purpose is 
to look for 
signs of au- 
tumn, and to 
compare what 
was seen in 
September 
with what this 
month shows. 
The attention 
of the class 
should be di- 
rected espe- 
cially to the 
following : 

The weather. 

The hazy sky. 

The shortened 
day. 

The disappear- 
ance of birds. 

The disappearance of insects, and other changes in animal life. 

Questions 

1. Which trees have lost their leaves? What colors do the 

leaves show? What is the condition of the buds? Will 
the bark peel? 

2. Which weeds have been affected by the frosts? What 

ones have not been affected? 

3. Do ferns show signs of having been frost-bitten? 

4. Look for cocoons, nuts, and seeds. Have most weeds scat- 

tered their seeds, or are they holding them firmly for birds? 
Are there any young plants coming up in October? 




SKETCH AND PLAN OF COLD-FRAME 



82 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Gather decorative material to use at Christmas, such as mosses, 
cones, ferns, colored leaves, princess pine, ground pine, bitter 
sweet, and colored leaves. The colored leaves may be waxed and 
pressed with a warm iron, or simply pressed in old books. The 
other things may be stored in a cool place until needed. 

Great care should be taken not to gather poisonous plants. 

Some aromatic plants, such as rosemary, sage, peppermint, 
spearmint, pennyroyal, etc., should be gathered and tied in bunches 
and dried, to hang in the pioneer kitchen. Procure some gourds 
to be used in this same kitchen. 

A city school that finds it impossible to take the trip might much 
better arrange with some country school to send it the vines, etc., 
than to buy them in the market. The educational effect is better 
for both schools. 

V. THE WEATHER RECORD 

October is likely to show great changes, thus making a most 
interesting record. Comparing the date of the first frost with that 
in other parts of the states known to the children, will lay a founda- 
tion for the study of climate later on. 

GEOGRAPHY 

I. HOME GEOGRAPHY CONTINUED 

Make a special study of the Monongahela River, bringing out 
the following points: 

1. Its use as a means of transportation. Study dams, locks — 
how a boat goes down through a lock, how it goes up. Kinds of 
boats; what they carry, passengers, freight, express. Length and 
time of trip. Coal barges, how made, and how managed. 

Suggestions 
Describe in detail a trip up the river in a packet, telling what 
would be seen. Use a map at every step. 



OCTOBER GEOGRAPHY 8^ 

Bring out the difficulties of navigation — floods, ice, winds, sand- 
bars, low water. 

Explain dredging. 

Get a riverman to come to the school and describe a trip down 
the river with a coal tow. How much coal can be taken at once? 
How many men are needed? How long are they gone? Where 
do they take the coal? Do they stop at night? How do they find 
their way at night? What cities do they see? 

Schools not situated in the Monongahela Valley should study 
the nearest river, if the children have ever seen it. An imaginary 
trip should be taken by carriage or bicycle. 

2. The Monongahela River as a geographical feature. Try to 
get answers to the following questions: Why are the dams so far 
apart? (In one case more than sixteen miles,) Why is there not 
a good road for driving along the river close to each bank? (This 
brings out the character of the banks.) Why is it not a pleasant 
river to bathe in? (The slow current and slight fall make a muddy 
bed, and the water is polluted by drainage.) What kinds of fish 
are found in the river? Why not trout? Does the river furnish 
water for any towns? 

3. The preceding questions apply to the river from Morgantown 
to Pittsburg. The character of the upper course and the tribu- 
taries is very different. Map the tributaries carefully. Make 
ideas of the Alleghany Mountains more definite by describing a trip 
up the Cheat. 

4. Model the Monongahela River basin and trace the water 
parting. Compare the western slope with the eastern. Locate the 
towTis the children have heard of; for example, Washington, Union- 
town, Waynesburg, Connellsville, Scottdale, Pleasant, Greensburg, 
West Newton and the towns along the river. (See illustration, p. 85.) 

The physical map of the Monongahela basin, and the following 
extract from ''The Home Valley as a Type in Geography," by 



84 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Dr. T. B. Noss, will be helpful in planning the work for any river 
basin. 

The Monongahela River rises in Randolph County, W. Va., and flows 
north a distance of about three hundred miles, joining the Allegheny 
at Pittsburg to form the Ohio. The area drained by the river and its 
tributaries is about twice as long as wide, and hes between the main 
range of the Alleghany Mountains and the basin of the Ohio. The 
Monongahela proper (I on map) rises in \.he extreme southwestern part 
of the basin, and through its entire course flows through the western 
side of the basin. The left slope therefore is narrow, furnishing no tribu- 
taries that are called rivers. The largest of these west side tributaries 
are Dunkard Creek (VIII), in Greene County, Pa., near the West Virginia 
line, and Ten Mile Creek (VII), in Washington County, with its two 
forks, the North Fork, rising near the town of Washington (23 on 
map), and the South Fork, near which is AVaynesburg (27). The next 
western tributary in importance is Pigeon Creek (V), at the mouth of 
which is Monongahela City (18), 

In marked contrast with this narrow western slope is the broad 
eastern one, with its several tributaries, the largest being the Youghio- 
gheny (II), at the mouth of which is McKeesport (17); the Cheat (IX), 
which flows into the Monongahela a little above Dunkard Creek and a 
little below the West Virginia state line, and the Tygart's Valley River 
(XIV), which is a larger and longer stream than the upper Monongahela, 
and receives as a tributary the Buckhannon River (XV). The only other 
stream, commonly called a river, is Casselman's River (IV), which unites 
with Laurel Creek (III) and the Youghiogheny at the town appropriately 
called Confluence. The name of "Turkeyfoot" was long ago given to 
the mountain region drained by these streams, because of the fancied 
resemblance to the three toes of the turkey's foot. Two townships of 
Somerset County bear the names respectively of Upper Turkey Foot and 
Lower Turkey Foot. 

The key to the remaining numbers is as follows : 

16, Pittsburg. 23, Washington. 25, Somerset. 20, California. 

17, McKeesport. 31, Greensburg. 21, Brownsville. 26, Uniontown. 

30, Oakland, Md. 22, Morganstown, W. Va. 

I, The Monongahela River. II, The Youghiogheny River. 
IX, The Cheat River. XIV, Tygart's Valley River. 

X, XI, XII, and XIII, Tributaries of the Cheat. ^ 




Vhe. m(nAirAccJ<\eAcul^(vaiXv\. 



86 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

A short distance below Confluence the Youghiogheny plunges over a 
ledge of rock fifteen or twenty feet high. This cascade is not called the 
Youghiogheny Falls, as we might expect, but Ohio Pyle. The meaning, 
however, is the same, Ohio being the French equivalent to the Indian 
Youghio (yOugHIO), and the rest of the word (pyle) signifying falls. 
Commercially the Youghiogheny is of no importance. 

By building a series of dams the river has been made navigable for 
large boats from Pittsburg to Fairmount, a distance of one hundred and 
twenty-six miles. The construction of these dams, and especially of the 
locks by means of which boats pass the dams, is an interesting and 
profitable topic for study. The detailed story of one of these locks will 
give the pupil knowledge wliicli can be applied not only to all other 
rivers having slack water navigation, but to all canals as w'ell. 

5. Study the coke industry. If the subject of coal mining has 
not been given in the third year, teach it no\v. Then show how 
these towns have grown because of the mines and coke. This is 
the best way to review the facts of industry and commerce taught 
in the third year. 

Lesson on Coke 

Get some specimens. Tell the class that for some purposes 
soft coal is better if it has been burned somewhat. When it has 
been burned in a certain way it is called coke. It is cheaper to 
do the burning near the mines. 

Describe the ovens. Tell Avhere the coke is shipped to. Add 
to the map the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Ohio railroads, 
from Pittsburg, south, southeast, and east. 

Bring out the fact that where large numbers of people are mining 
coal, making it into coke, and carrying it away, there are many 
other kinds of labor needed, to build and repair the houses, to pro- 
vide food and clothing, to sell it, to keep up schools and churches, etc. 
So it follows that towns spring up near the mines and coke ovens. 

In this way, and with simple lessons a little later on the steel and 
glass industries, a foundation w iii oe laid for understanding the 
wonderful industrial development of the Pittsburg region. 



OCTOBER — GEOGRAPHY 87 

II. PACKING AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION 

This topic belongs to commercial geography, and equally to 
industrial history. 

]\Iake a model on the sand table of the state of Pennsylvania. 
Trace the route of Conrad Weiser. (See map, p. 65.) Teach 
how goods were loaded upon horses by means of pack-saddles and 
thus carried over the mountains. Show pictures of trains of horses 
or mules climbing mountain paths. There is no better way to 
learn the hills, valleys, ridges, passes and streams of western Penn- 
sylvania than to follow in the footsteps of the trader. For details 
of this topic see History for January. 

If the above work cannot be done, teach the Alleghany Moun- 
tains in the usual way. 

III. HARVESTS 
- Study the harvests of the world for October, especially Europe 
and Asia, to emphasize the fact that in the north temperate zone 
the productions are much alike. 

HISTORY 

Celoron in 1749 buried lead plates to mark the French claim 
to the Ohio country. His expedition is well worth teaching because 
of its historical and geographical importance. It is simple enough 
for the fourth grade, and it offers numerous situations of dramatic 
interest. It serves to reinforce what is already known of the fur 
trade, the Indians, and transportation by canoe. 

A simple explanation of Celoron's plans and purposes should be 
given first, after which the following divisions of the trip may be 
used: 

1. The start. 

2. The trip along Lake Ontario, the portage around Niagara, the 

crossing of Lake Erie, and the steep portage up to Lake Chau- 
tauqua. 



88 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



3. The nailing of the strip of tin to a tree, and the burying of the 

leaden plate. 

4. The voyage on down the Allegheny, and the stay at Logstown. 

5. The unfriendly meeting with the Indians at the mouth of the 

Scioto River. 

6. The journey continued, and the council at Pickawillany. 

7. The remainder of the trip, and the report made by Celoron to 

the government. (See map below.) 




The scene at Logstown should be played by the children, or the 
one at Pickawillany would do equally well. 

The remaining time for history, during the month, may be given 
to construction work growing out of the history. 

The best account of Celoron's trip is found in Francis Parkman's 
"Montcalm and Wolfe," Vol. I. - 



OCTOBER — LITERATURE 89 

LITERATURE 

Continue "Hiawatha," beginning with the wedding feast. Call 
attention to the dishes, the wand of invitation, and the food offered 
the guests. Notice who served the guests. Have the pupils 
describe the dress of Pau-Puk-Keewis in detail. 

For some especial school occasion one pupil may give this 
description; another may have the figure drawn on the board as 
shown in the illustration on page 96 of the edition recommended. 
A third may sing the song of Chibiabos.* Another may recite 
with animation from line 179, beginning, '*Iagoo, the great boaster," 
to line 229. All should join in "O good lagoo," etc., to line 235. 
One pupil should answer, 237 to 239. 

''The Son of the Evening Star," the story Osseo tells, is too long to 
be committed to memory by any one pupil, but it is so beautiful that 
the children should be encouraged to learn as much as they can. 

The teacher may say that it is now sunset, and lagoo looks at 
the evening star, and begins his story. One pupil may recite from 
line 25 to 68. Another from 68 to 125. Let a third go on to 139, 
when he may be interrupted by a voice from another, to 160. It 
is effective to have the pupil giving this part hidden in the cloak 
room, behind a screen, or in some other place. If this has been 
arranged for secretly, the effect will be all the better. 

The one who was interrupted may continue to line 167. The 
next pupil may recite to 218. 

With a little trouble a pupil could represent the ruler of the 
evening star. He might wear a crown of silver paper, with silver 
stars fastened to his coat. He should now come into the room, and 
begin: ''O my Osseo!" etc., to line 248. The exercise might 
close with lines 249 to 251 ; or the remainder of the story might be 
divided among two or three pupils. 

* The music may be had of the Wm. Maxwell Music Co.; 8 East Sixteenth Street, 
New York. It is called "A Song of Absence and Longing." 



90 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Very likely the children will propose to dress in Indian costume 
and act this part of the poem, beginning with the wedding feast. 
They can do this very well. Any kind of shawl or blanket, and a 
few quills fastened in the hair suggest Indians. Cloth or paper 
cut into fringe makes a showy and effective addition to the costume. 
The boys may furnish the weapons, and the girls arrange a make- 
believe feast. 

The teacher can easily make her own plans for the remainder of 
this poem. It is not too much to ask the children to learn the 
beautiful lines from Hiawatha's lamentation, beginning line 56 and 
continuing to 86. These were read at Longfellow's funeral. 

At least one month should be spent on this poem — the last two 
weeks of September and the first two of October, if it is thought 
better to have the work continuous, or it may come on alternate 
days. It is a rich experience for the boys and girls to live for days 
in the atmosphere of this greatest of American poems. If they are 
taught to appreciate the beauty of the character of Hiawatha as a 
man, and are led to enjoy the beauty of the poetry, much has been 
done to lift them up to that height from which they will look down 
on all cheap and trashy literature. 

ARITHMETIC 

The new process to be taught is multiplication of fractions. 
This is placed before addition and subtraction of fractions because 
it is easier. Ideas about fractions and fractional parts of numbers 
have been growing in the child's mind for several years. He 
needs now to make these ideas formal. He has learned to write 
fractions which express parts of things he is working with. In 
fences, in boards, everywhere, he can find parts of a foot; in the 
paper measures and patterns and in the making of maps, he has 
used parts of inches, feet, and yards; and in the sewing and in 
recipes for cooking fractions frequently come up. He has now only 



92 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

to learn the formal ways of expressing what he already can think in 
fractions. If he is constantly referred to these concrete experiences, 
he will have no trouble with this step. 

There should be added to this the multiplying of small mixed 
numbers, and a great deal of comparing one fraction with another, 
as in the lead problem given below. 

Continue rapid oral drill in addition, subtraction and multipli- 
cation. 

Suggestions for Problems 

1. Make gill, pint and quart measures from stiff paper, and 
calculate material needed. 

2. Draw cellar plans with bins for different articles, and cal- 
culate capacity. 

3. Draw shelf plans for bottles for school collection, and calculate 
space needed for a given number of bottles of certain dimensions. 
Apply this experience to shelf room for fruit cans, and make prob- 
lems. 

4. Weigh apples carefully before drying and after. How much 
and what part of their weight did they lose? 

5. In schools that do not teach domestic science (and many do 
not), it is practicable to get some good material for arithmetic, by 
enlisting the help of the mothers. A good place to begin is with 
the making of jellies, marmalades and fruit butters. These are still 
made in many homes, and both the process and the result are of 
perennial interest to children. The questions may begin early in 
September and the answers be worked out as opportunity offers 
during the fall. 

QUESTIONS 

a. Jellies: 

If one-half peck of grapes is used, how much liquid is there after 
it is strained? 

How much water has been added? 



OCTOBER ARITHMETIC 93 

How much grape juice must there be then in the mixture? 

What part of the whole is juice? ^Yhat part water? 

How much is there when it is ready to add the sugar? 

How much must have boiled away? 

How much sugar is added? (Give answer by quantity and weight.) 

How much jelly is there when cold? 

What part of the original grapes, water and sugar is this? (Of 
course, where grapes are clean, some persons prefer not adding 
water at all.) 

Try to get these answers with regard to jelly made from different 
kinds of fruits — apples, peaches, plums, and any kind that might be 
made after school begins. One child might bring data with regard 
to one kind, and another might observe a different kind. 

b.^ Marmalade: 

Ask similar questions, and try to get answers with regard to the 
making of marmalades. 

If no water is used, compare quantity of fruit before and after 
cooking, and compare sugar with total. 

c. Fruit Butters: 

Give similar problems with regard to these, altering the questions 
to suit conditions. 

d. Canning Fruit: 

Observe the canning of pears, peaches, and apples. 
How many quart cans may be filled by a peck of apples? 
How many pint cans by a bushel of pears? 

Using the above observations for data, calculate how much jelly 
can be made from a bushel of grapes of the kind used. How much 
from a bushel of apples? How much fruit butter from a bushel of 
any kind of fruit observed? 

Bring this work in at intervals during the autumn months. If 
the boys object, give them problems from books. 



94 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

** Celeron's Expedition." 

"How Coke Is Made." 

"What the Farmer Must Do in October." 

"What May be Seen on a River Trip." 

Encourage the pupils to write an imaginary story of Indian life, 
cr the adventures of a hunter and trapper, or a trip of an explorer. 

Continue to keep a weather record. 

Copy fine extracts from "Hiawatha.' 

Continue the drill upon words commonly mispronouncea. 

Emphasize the proper use of capital letters. 

Select some common grammatical error, as "seen" for "saw," 
"knowed" for "knew," etc., and try to form the correct habit. 

READING 

The reading lessons should be chiefly from "Hiawatha." By 
this time the interest in the poem will be so strong that the pupils 
will not care to read much else. 

Choose from the readers any selections that are related to the 
geography topics, or to the nature study lessons. 

Read and commit to memory Bryant's "The Death of the 
Flowers. " 

Try persistently to give the pupil a high standard of reading. 
Insist that he try to express thought, not merely to call words. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY 

"Plowing," Rosa Bonheur 
"The Cornfield," Wallace Nutting. 

See catalogue of H. K. Turner, Boston, Mass. 



OCTOBER LANGUAGE 95 

SONGS 

*'Good-Bye to Slimmer." 

"Swinging 'Neath the Old Apple Tree." 

Both of these songs are found in the '* Pennsylvania School Song 
Collection." 



THE ARTS 

I. CONSTRUCTION WORK 

In carrying out the plans for this month, the boys and girls 
should both work at nearly every kind of work suggested; but it 
would be well to expect the boys to do all of the hard work on the 
cellar, and to depend on the girls mostly for a study of preserving 
fruits. A few pupils may be indifferent to both, but enough will 
welcome the new interests so eagerly as to make them the domi- 
nating features of the month. 

Among the things that may employ the busy hands this month 
are the building of a cellar, and the making of bows and arrows, 
a pack saddle, and baskets. The baskets may easily take all of 
the time if the pupils have not worked at them before. 

Let the boys build a cellar on the sand table, putting real cement 
on the floor of the cellar, and plastering the wall. It will be easy 
in most places for them to get stone suitable for this purpose, and 
almost any mason would be willing to give them a few hints about 
breaking stones. It is a great pleasure to a boy to know that he 
can break a stone about as he wants to. If this work, which is 
entirely practicable, is done at all, it should be done very carefully. 
Two feet by three, or twenty inches by thirty inches, is a good 
size for the cellar. If two feet by three is chosen, the wall should 
be as much as four inches wide. The pupils should notice that 
tlie thickness of foundation walls does not decrease in a regular 



96 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

scale. Even a very small building may have a foundation one foot 
wide. The wall might be nine inches high. 

As many boys as are willing may share in getting the stones. 
Several may break them. Any mason will gladly give directions 
for mixing the mortar for the wall. A drain should be made 
under the wall. The mason's advice should be asked in regard 
to the cement for the floor. Two boys may get the bottom 
of the cellar ready for the cement. Two may add the cement. 
Two may make the window frames. Two more the windows. 
One may make the outside door, another the steps. Some- 
times an obliging dealer in stones for sidewalks will give some 
fragments of sawed stones, and the workman at a marble cutter's 
will tell how stones are polished. 

Two boys may make the bins for one side, two for the other, one 
or two may make the milk rack, and two more the cupboard for 
canned fruit. Chalk boxes can be utilized for all of these purposes. 

It is unnecessary to give here the arithmetic growing out of this, 
since all the arithmetics contain cellar and cellar wall problems. 
The teacher should give a variety of problems based on this 
model of a cellar 

II. MODELING AND DRAWING 

Model the Monongahela River basin (see physical map); also 
fruits, nuts, and vegetables to store in the cellar. 
Draw plans for the cellar. 

Draw a map of the Monongahela River, and basin. 
Draw designs for baskets. 

III. COLOR WORK 

Let the pupils paint sprays of leaves which have been gathered 
in the trip to the woods, trees, and an October landscape. They 
also may paint figures of Indians, and dye raffia for baskets. 



OCTOBER THE ARTS 97 

Dyeing: 

In the October walks, certain materials should be gathered for 
dyeing. Among these are hemlock bark, the shells and bark of 
the walnut and butternut, some yellow oak bark, soft maple bark, 
and pokeberries. The last-named must be used at once, and all of 
the others give somewhat different shades if used after they are dry. 

Make but one experiment at a time. Try it first alone, or with 
but few of the children present. Tell them it may be a failure. 

Try the pokeberry dye. Pour two quarts of hot water on a 
pound of walnut shells. Let it stand two days. Strain. Heat 
up slowly. Put in some white wool yarn, and some raffia — not 
more than one-fourth of a pound of the yarn, or less, and one of 
the small bunches of raffia. Have both washed, the yarn with 
great care. Do not have the dye boiling when the materials are 
put in. Stir and air constantly for fifteen minutes. Put aside 
to drain. 

Stem and mash the pokeberries as for jam; strain, and put the 
goods in. There should be one quart of pokeberry juice. Simmer 
one-half hour. Stir and air the goods constantly. Rinse and dry. 
The result should be a dull, dark red. The walnut stain ''sets" 
the color of the pokeberries. 

Try the butternut or walnut dye upon white, light gray, light blue, 
or any light-colored mixtures of wool rags or yarn, for rugs. Wash 
the goods with plenty of soap. Always have the goods wet when 
put into a dye. Use one pound of walnut bark or shells. Cover 
with boiling water and allow to stand two days. (It is much better 
to steep the bark than merely to soak it.) Strain. Add one-half 
ounce alum to one quart of dye. Put goods in and simmer one-half 
hour. No more goods should be dyed than can be nearly covered 
with the dye. Stir and air constantly. Rinse and dry. The 
result should be a rich brown. 

The yellow oak bark may be used in the same way with alum 
to set the color. Cotton may be dyed with it. 



98 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Lay aside the hemlock bark, and some of the walnut and butter- 
nut, to use in January. Do not lead the ,children to expect bright 
coloring from their work. The maple bark will color cotton a sol't 
gray, dark in proportion to the strength of the dye. 

IV. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

Let the pupil illustrate the following scenes from "Hiawatha," 
beginning with Division XII: 

1. The transformation of Osseo, 69-120. 

2. The pygmies, 304-313. 

3. Hiawatha and the ravens, XIII, 115-133. 

4. Draw the symbols, or Indian picture writing, from Part XIV. 

5. The death of Chibiabos, XV, 20-39. 

6. Pau-Puk-Keewis and the Beaver, XVII, 41-68. 

7. Pau-Puk-Keewis as a brant, XVII, 205-215. 

8. The death of Kwasind, XVIII, 87-102 

9. The departure of Hiawatha, XXII, 210-225. 





NATURE STUDY 

I. THE FARM 

Early in November the thrifty farmer has his autumn 
work well out of the way, if the weather has been 
favorable. He can now turn his attention to making^ 
the winter quarters for stock snug and warm, and 
to sending various products to market. A series of 
lessons should be arranged on the care of domestic 
animals, such as the horse, cow, dog, sheep and 
poultry. These lessons may be made interesting to 
children in the country and in towns, but in the city 
they are likely to degenerate into the merest telling. 




l.o^C. 



100 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

In this case it is better to substitute the reading of books like 
"Black Beauty," "Duke," "The Strike at Shane's," and "Colliery 
Jim," where the care given the animals comes in incidentally. 

Going into the farmhouse, we may study the curing of meats. 
This topic is intimately connected with Indian life and pioneer 
life, as well as with the farm at this season. The preservation of 
meat takes us far back toward the beginning of civilization, 

II. GAME 

If time permits, make a study of the deer, buffalo and game 
birds, such as the partridge, the quail, and the wild pigeon. 

The work thus far given is rather passive, and depends for its 
interest upon the preceding work and upon the history and 
literature. The remaining topics provide for more activity 

III. WORK WITH PLANTS— WOODS TRIP 

Bring in boxes of soil to start seeds in, in the spring. Set plants 
in the cold-frame. Care for and study the window garden. 

The woods trip should be taken for the purpose of gathering 
woods to be used in the constructive work. Fourth-grade pupils 
are scarcely old enough to get much of this material for themselves, 
but it is well for them to try. 

IV. WEATHER OBSERVATIONS 

When the farmer has his autumn work all done, he watches 
anxiously to see whether enough rain falls to replenish the springs 
and streams. A very careful record of the rainfall for this month 
should be made, if there is a government rain gauge near. If not, 
even fourth-year pupils can measure roughly with a tin can which 
has straight sides. This must be set out in the open so as to give a 
fair test. The children will overestimate the rainfall, and should 
compare their work with the weather report given in the daily 
paper. 



NOVEMBER — GEOGRAPHY 101 

GEOGRAPHY 

I. THE ALLEGHENY RIVER 

Compare this river briefly with the Monongahela. Bring out 
the contrasts. 

Teach the petroleum industry. Take up the building of a der- 
rick, drilling, casing, "shooting," pumping. Describe oil tanks, 
pipe lines, and the refining process. Specimens of crude oil, 
"sands," and some of the rock drilled through may be easily 
obtained. Use pictures of derricks, tanks, etc. 

Tliis industry is large, and comparatively simple, and its main 
features can be fairly well understood by children. Add to the 
map of Pennsylvania the oil fields, the Allegheny River, and the 
towns of Bradford, Oil City, Titusville, Franklin and Butler. 

n. THE OHIO RIVER 

The fact that the Monongahela River is continued in the Ohio, 
that the November floods sweep down into the Ohio, carrying 
soil from all western Pennsylvania, that the coal barges float down 
the Ohio to the lower markets, that many of the packs of furs came 
up the Ohio to Logstown, and that the child's natural curiosity 
leads him to follow the river in which he is interested — all these 
reasons make us choose the Ohio River for one of the central 
topics for this month. 

Suggestions 

Teach the Ohio River first as it was seen and used by the ex- 
plorers and traders. This has been done in the history for October. 
Read extracts from Gist's Journal in which he speaks of the 
Ohio River. Later in the school year picture it as it appeared to 
the pioneers who took their products to the New Orleans market. 

Again, enlarge the concept of the river as it appeared after the 
introduction of the steamboat. Finally, have it described as it is 



102 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

to-day, by some boatman who is familiar with it. The feeUng of 
historical sequence is much stronger if some weeks elapse between 
these well-marked stages of the development of its usefulness. 

Compare these different accounts so as to show the gradual 
evolution of river transportation, from the canoe, raft, flat-boat 
and rude steamer to the handsome passenger packets of to-day, 
and the mammoth coal fleets that go down with each rise of the 
water. 

From all this description the pupils should be able to compare 
the Ohio with the Monongahela in respect to the following points: 
source, length, width, depth, rate of flow, slope of bed, windings, 
character of banks, size of basin, falls, usefulness and beauty. 

Make a map and model the Ohio basin on the sand table. Use 
printed maps. If time permits, trace up the Cumberland and the 
Tennessee to where their head waters interlace with those of the 
rivers of the Atlantic slope. Find where the Indians could carry 
their furs easily across the mountains, and where the pioneers 
could come from Virginia and the Carolinas over into the western 
valleys. It is important that children shall early get a correct idea 
of a water parting. 

III. THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND VALLEY 

No adequate concept of the great Mississippi basin can be gained 
by the fourth grade, but they should learn the length, direction, 
size, and characteristic features of the river. They should learn, 
also, of the great valley, of the prairies, of the change of climate 
and productions as they go south, of the levees, of the dredging of 
the channel, and the location of Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, 
and New Orleans. 

IV. THE PRAIRIES 

It is natural to go from the rivers to the prairies, and the children 
find the best company in the explorers and the traders. To a 



NOVEMBER — GEOGRAPHY 103 

child reared among eastern hills the great prairies are among tlie 
most interesting of geographical wonders, and he should be led to 
see them in imagination. Let him have as vivid and clear views 
as possible, unobstructed by towns, or any of the changes which 
modern progress has wrought. Read Gist's description in his 
journal. 

V. WEATHER OBSERVATIONS 

In connection with the weather record and nature study on the 
one hand, and on the other the wish of the coal shippers for a stage 
of water high enough to float their coal, the fall rains should be 
studied whenever they come. The depth of the rainfall should be 
measured, the date and duration noted; the steadiness of the 
downpour, direction of winds, appearance of clouds, temperature, 
and barometer, all observed. The quantity falling on the school 
grounds or within the limits of the town may be calculated by the 
teacher, if the class cannot yet use long division well enough to do 
the work alone. The good done by the rains should be discussed, 
also the harm. The washing of fine soil into the rivers should re- 
ceive especial attention, also the wearing of the river banks, and the 
building, if any examples can be found. Read what Gist says of 
the river with the falling banks. 

Teach what springs are; how the rains refill them; how necessary 
they were to the settlers, and what kind of country has springs. 
Teach the different kinds of wells, how water comes to be in wells; 
why people with wells watch for rain. Describe hot springs and 
geysers. 

VI. THE CALENDAR OF HARVESTS 

Contrast the closing of the harvest season all through the north 
temperate zone, with the planting that has gone on in the south 
temperate. Point out that above about forty degrees north lati- 
tude cabbage, turnips, and late crops should not be risked out in 



104 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

November. Teach that north of forty degrees the farmer in the 
eastern United States must now feed his cattle. Sometimes he 
does so earlier. Then show how the hne below which the cattle 
can take care of themselves on the wild grass and without barns 
deflects to the north. Climate should be taught in relation to life. 

HISTORY 

Two topics have been selected for this month — Christopher 
Gist's journey, and the coming of the pioneers. Gist received 
his instructions from the Ohio Company in September, 1750. 
He started from Colonel Cresap's on the Potomac, on October 31st 
of the same year. After traveling through Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
and Kentucky, he reached his home on the Yadkin in North 
Carolina, May 19, 1751. A good way to teach his trip is to read 
extracts from his journal on the days corresponding to the entries. 
By this plan, the children are made to realize more vividly how 
long some of the exploring trips took which we dismiss in many 
text-books with a single paragraph. 

The reading of the journal should be preceded by a simple 
explanation to the effect that before any English people settled 
west of the mountains, and the very same year that Conrad Weiser 
held his council with the Indians, a company of men in Virginia, 
called the Ohio Company, wished to send settlers to make homes 
along the Ohio River. In order to find suitable locations for them, 
and to be sure of the friendship and trade of the Indians, the 
company sent out a man, named Christopher Gist, to explore the 
land. He wrote down what he did every day, and his journal has 
been handed down to us. 

Then give the six points covered by his instructions: He was to 
select rich, level or gently rolling land, well timbered and well 
watered. He was to examine the rivers with care, and hold a coun- 
cil with the Indians. 



NOVEMBER HISTORY 105 

It only remains to read the extracts impressively to the pupils on 
the days corresponding to the entry in his journal. 

The material for the teacher's use in presenting this subject is, 
''Christopher Gist's Journals," admirably edited with full notes, 
by William M. Darlington, 

Sooner or later the pioneers followed the fur trader. In the case 
of western Pennsylvania, they followed close in his footsteps. The 
traders built their posts w^est of the mountains, after the treaty at 
Lancaster (Penn.) in 1744, and by 1762 there were numerous little 
openings in the wilderness, from which the blue smoke ascended to 
mark the site of a new home. 

The coming of the pioneer to the western slope of the Alleghany 
Mountains offers an excellent opportunity to teach the two stages of 
industrial history that are best adapted to this grade. These are: 
The clearing of the land and the carrying on of simple farming; 
and the invention and improvement of tools and utensils, and the 
ingenious adapting of means to ends which has especially char- 
acterized the American pioneer. These connect closely with 
similar studies in the third year, and lay the right kind of founda- 
tion* for a later study of our highly specialized industrial life. 

It will be seen, also, that the topic is closely and naturally related 
to the geography and the science work outlined, and is strong in its 
appeals to the imagination of the children. It also provides prac- 
tical problems for the number work, and a large field for the con- 
structive activities of the pupils. 

Lesson Units 

1. Why the Pioneers Left the East: 

They were poor, or wished good land, or merely wanted a change. 
Use the remaining time of this lesson in discussing what good land 
is, and where it is located in western Pennsylvania. Bring out 
the need of springs, streams, timber, good soil, etc. 



106 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

2. Preparation for the Start. 

Develop with the children, but do not tell, what the pioneers 
must take with them — i.e., guns, ammunition, axes, knives, a 
kettle, a frying pan, salt, meal or flour, and bacon, for the journey 
and for a time after their arrival. They must take some clothing 
and bedding, and some seeds to plant. They will need to lead 
one or more cows, some sheep, swine and poultry. 

3. The Start. 

Develop as before, telling as little as possible. Since there were 
no roads across the mountains over w^hich wagons could be driven, 
the goods must be loaded on horses. Have pupils make a willow 
or hickory creel or sort of basket, used for packing. The younger 
children were tied in these baskets with the clothing and blankets. 
The men and sometimes the women walked. What must the 
people leave behind? Furniture, tools, dishes, looms, cleared 
land, and comfortable houses, perhaps; schools, churches, friends, 
neighbors, roads, mills, new^spapers, and postoffices. What will 
they do for these things? We shall see later. 

4. The Journey. Points to be developed: 

Time of year. (Early spring.) Why? Probable rate of travel. 
Difficulties: Poor, muddy roads at first, then only a bridle path 
across the mountains; no bridges; melting snows up in the moun- 
tains; trees fallen across the path; lack of food for the horses. 
Dangers: Swollen streams; slippery, narrow, and steep paths; 
wild animals (danger slight except to pigs and poultry); illness 
from exposure and the hardships of the trip. 

Describe and try to picture a company of settlers in single file, 
coming slowly along the rolling country and among the foothills, 
and still more slow^ly as they climb and cross the mountains. 

5. The Camp. 

Describe and picture a camping scene — making the camp, the 
supper, care of the horses, the night's rest, the breakfast. 



NOVEMBER HISTORY 



107 



6. The New Home. 

Preparing the site. Felling the trees, notching them, putting 
them in place. ^Making the gables, the roof, the door and windows, 
the floor, the chimney, the beds, the table, chairs, the stairway, and 
a wardrobe. 

1. At Work in the Clearing. 

Girdling trees to kill them and planting corn and squashes in 
the open spaces made. Then the real clearing. Felling trees, 
piling together and burning when dry enough. Picking up sticks, 
branches, etc., by women and children to forward the work. Sow- 
ing grciin, starting a garden. Helping one another at "logging bees. ' 




PIONEER S TABLE 



8. Food of the Pioneers. 

Instead of giving an account of the kinds that a thrifty family might 
provide, work out a menu for a week, using all the variety possible. 

These eight topics will give two for each week, and will occupy 
as much time as it is desirable to use for this work. 



LITERATURE 

THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH 

This poem is selected because it is a beautiful story in itself, 
and because it reviews pioneer life under much the same condition 
as those being taught in the history lessons. 



108 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

The language is too difficult for fourth-grade children to read. 
The teacher should first explain simply enough of the story so the 
children can listen with intelligent interest, and then read with 
explanatory comment. 

Part I. 

Say to the pupils, that you are going to read a description of a 
room with two men in it, and that when you are through reading 
they shall tell you how the men and the room look. Read the 
first stanza. 

Tell the pupils that the men begin to talk, and that as Mr. 
Longfellow tells what they say, he makes the picture of the room 
clearer. Read the second stanza and then ask questions. Which 
man spoke first, and what did he talk about? How had the breast- 
plate saved his life? Show pupils pictures of armor. What did 
the other man say? How did Miles Standish keep his arms bright? 
Where was his cannon? How many soldiers had he? Why had 
he no more? 

Say that you are going to read of how it looked out of doors, and 
of a great sorrow one of the men had. Then read the third stanza. 
Ask why Standish felt sad. Is there anything beautiful in this 
stanza? Read it again. 

Tell of the books with old-fashioned calf bindings. Do not 
spend much time on them. Ask what Alden was writing about. 
Enlarge this question because it reviews what has previously been 
learned about the Pilgrims. 

Part 11. 

Explain who Csesar was. Have one pupil sit at the table as 
John Alden, and let several of the best readers try reading the part 
of Standish. 

Read to the class the first seven lines of the second stanza. Then 
read the part of Miles Standish to a boy as John Alden. Have a 
pupil do this, if any can read well enough. Have several practice 



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PRISCILLA SPINNING 



110 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

it and read in parts from day to day. Go on with the third stanza, 
making it clear that Alden, for the sake of friendship, consents to 
ask Priscilla, although he does not want to. Emphasize the three 
lines beginning, '* 'Surely you cannot refuse what I ask in the name 
of our friendship.' " 

Part III. 

Begin, ''Alden went on his errand," and call attention to the 
beauty of the picture. Omit, if it seems best, all the remainder of 
the stan:^, merely explaining that Alden was very unhappy because 
he liked Priscilla himself. 

Read the second stanza. Dwell on the picture of Alden walking 
through the woods, and then on the house as he saw it. Picture 
Priscilla as she spun and sang. Explain what Alden meant when 
he said, "Let not him that putteth his hand to the plow," etc. 

Read the next stanza impressively. Help the children to im- 
agine" the scene. 

Let each ofi'e read what Priscilla said, beginning, " 'I have been 
thinking all day.' " Contrast the picture she fancied she saw, 
with the scene around her. Why did she not go back on the May- 
flower? 

Read Alden's reply. The teacher may use her discretion with 
regard to the next stanza. The writer has found it best to touch 
lightly upon the love story here, and merely tell the children that 
Priscilla was displeased because Captain Standish did not' come 
himself to ask her. Then say that John went on- to pjai^fe his 
friend, telling Priscilla that the captain came of good faniily;, and 
was a man of honor. Read, beginning, "He was a man of honor, 
of noble and generous nature," to end of stanza. Make \i plain 
that she refused to marry Standish. 

Part IV. 

Omit the first six stanzas. Simply tell that Alden goes back to 
the house where he and Standish live and tells the latter the result 




JOHN ALDEN AND PRISCILLA 



112 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

of his mission. Standish is very angry and accuses John of wanting 
Priscilla for his wife, which John does not deny. Standish, furious, 
goes to the council. Read to the class the remainder of this part. 
It may be read as a dialogue by changing it a little and making the 
Elder speak in the first person. 

Part V. 

. Read and discuss the departure of Standish and his soldiers. 
Next take up the sailing of the Mayflower. Read with enough 
comment to make it clear. Bring out the scene as vividly as possi- 
ble. Read the stanza that tells how Alden had spent the night. 
Tell that Alden was so grieved by what Standish had said to him 
that he went to the shore to sail away in the Mayflower; but seeing 
Priscilla, and thinking how lonely she was, he decided to remain to 
protect her. Try to have the class see the departing Mayflower. 
Use Boughton's pictures of these Pilgrim scenes, even if they have 
been used before. 

The delicate motives of John Alden can scarcely be appreciated 
by children of the fourth year, so the parts of the poem relating 
to them may mostly be omitted, as well as part of the interview 
between Priscilla and John Alden. The reading might begin at 
line 7 of the third stanza of Part VI, '' 'Let us then be what we 



are. 



Part VIL 

The whole of this part may be given. It is easily understood 
with a little explanation. 

Part VIII. 

Read the first stanza. Explain that alien armies and nations 
mean the Indians. Discuss the arrival of the ship. 

Read the description of Alden's new house. This helps to 
make clear the work in the history class. Read the beautiful third 
stanza. Read and help the children to picture the fourth. The 



NOVEMBER LITERATURE 113 

last may be omitted. Tell the class that John Alden thought that 
now Miles Standish was dead he could ask Priscilla to marry him 
without acting unfairly to his friend. 

Part IX. 

The first stanza is too figurative for children. The second may 
simply be read. The dramatic climax in the third is fine, and is 
quite within reach of the children. The situation should be 
well brought out. One after another the boys should read the part 
of Standish. The work may stop here, or the teacher may read 
the beautiful description of the going home. 

The central thought of this poem is the loyalty of John Alden to 
Miles Standish after both know that Priscilla loves the young man. 
It may be objected that since children of the fourth grade cannot 
be expected to understand the situation, this poem should not be 
given. But this objection can be urged against most classics that 
deal with the strong, deep currents of human life. The chief pur- 
pose of the study of literature by the young is to help introduce 
them to many of the experiences of life in the right way — to give 
them the right ideals and the right attitude. It is impossible to 
keep talk of love from the ears of children even as young as these, 
and it is well that as soon as they hear anything about it they should 
learn that it is sacred and beautiful, and is to be subject to honor 
and duty. 

ARITHMETIC 

The new process to be taught is division of fractions. Teach 
only the dividing of a whole number by a fraction and one fraction 
by a smaller one. Leave the other cases in division of fractions 
for the next year. 

Continue the drill on combinations daily 



114 the fourth school year 

Materials for Problems 

1. The blockhouse : 

Draw the plan to a scale, using one inch to the foot. The chil- 
dren need rulers with twelfths of an inch marked. Then calculate 
the number of poles needed, if they come in lengths of three and 
four feet. Assume that the poles are two inches in diameter. How 
many will be needed for a puncheon floor for the lower part of the 
blockhouse? How many for the upper part? Estimate the quan- 
tity needed for the roof, splitting each into four pieces. 

It is not intended that both a pioneer house and a blockhouse 
shall be made, unless it is easy to get poles, and the bovs are enthu- 
siastic about the work. (See History for December.) The block- 
house might be made and furnished as a pioneer home, since 
blockhouses were used also as dwellings. But it would be better 
to build the typical log-house, and make problems about it and 
about the blockhouse also, using merely the plan of the latter. 

2. Corn and corn meal as articles of pioneer food: 

Relation between bushel of ears and bushel of shelled corn,* 
between shelled corn and corn meal. Get rules for corn bread. 
Have the children bring the one their mother uses. The following 
is a good rule: 

2^ pints corn meal. 
2 eggs well beaten. 

1 tablespoonful melted butter. 

2 tablespoonfuls sugar. 
1 quart sweet milk. 

J pint wheat flour. 

1 teaspoon ful soda. 

2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar. 
1 teaspoonful of salt. 



* Two bushels of ears of medium corn will make one bushel of shelled corn, but 
two bushels of ears of good corn will make about one and one-fourth bushels shelled. 
A bushel of slielled corn weighs 56 lbs. 




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DESIGNS FOR PATCHWORK 



116 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Find the one-half of this rule. The one-fourth. Double the 
quantity. 

3. Patchwork: 

Encourage the girls each to make a square of patchwork like 
Fig. 1. Requi're both boys and girls to draw the pattern and 
to cut it. If they have had experience in measuring and cutting, 
insist that one-fourth of an inch be left on each edge for seams. 
The allowance on the outer edge will be needed when the "block" 
or "patch" is joined to others. 

QUESTIONS 

If this block (see Fig. 3) is to be one foot square when set in the 
finished quilt, and each corner is three inches square, how large 
must the center piece be cut? How many could be cut out of 
one-fourth yard of calico, twenty-seven inches wide? How much 
waste would there be, if any? 

What part of the entire block is the central piece? 

Since the corner squares are to be three inches square when fin- 
ished, how large must they be cut? How many square inches does 
each contain? How many could be cut out of the central piece? 
Try it with paper. Find the area in square inches of the central 
piece. 

How long must the side pieces be cut? How wide? How many 
square inches in one? In the four? Could two be cut out of the 
center piece? How much would it lack? 

If these side pieces are to be cut from white muslin one yard wide, 
how many could be cut from one-fourth of a yard? Which is the 
best way to lay the pattern on the goods? Would there be any 
waste in cutting from the one-fourth yard? How much? 

If a quilt is to be made six feet wide and seven feet long, and 
these blocks are to be put together with alternating plain blocks of 
the same size, how many pieced blocks are needed? 



NOVEMBER — ARITHMETIC 117 

How many yards of calico would it take for these plain 
blocks? 

How many yards of calico for the color in all the pieced blocks 
would be needed? 

How many yards of white muslin, one yard wide, for the side pieces 
in the pieced blocks? 

How many yards of muslin one yard wide would be needed for a 
lining for this quilt? 

Vary the size of this block and give similar problems. 

Vary the pattern and give similar problems. The cost of 
materials may be added at the discretion of the teacher. 

History for this month affords material for some good distance 
problems. Most of the pioneers who came to western Pennsylvania 
came from east of the Susquehanna River. The distance by rail 
from Harrisburg to Pittsburg is two hundred and fifty miles. 
With that as a basis, numerous problems may be made. 

Examples: 

If a family came from twenty miles east of the river, and settled 
in the neighborhood of Pittsburg, how many days were they on 
the road if they traveled ten miles a day? Fifteen miles? Eight 
miles? Twelve miles? Vary the conditions, and give more prob- 
lems. If they rested on Sundays, how many weeks would it take 
in each case? If they started on a given day, say the 20th of March, 
on what date would they reach Pittsburg? 

Select different towns in eastern Pennsylvania, or in New Jersey. 
Estimate the distance to Pittsburg or some other point in this part 
of the state. Then give this kind of problem: If a family tried 
to make the journey in three weeks, how far must they average 
each day? ' If they made it in eighteen days? In twenty-four 
days? etc. 

Vary the places and give more problems. 



118 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

''The Road Which Oil Travels from Its Cave to Our Lamps." 

"How We Moved Across the Mountains." 

"A Quilting Party." 

"Comparison of Mid-November with Early September." 

Begin the journal of Christopher Gist, vrith the expectation of 
working frequently at it until May. It adds to the interest to write 
the journal in the first person. 

Have the pupils write letters to country school children asking 
for specimens of wood, bark, and the shells of nuts for dyeing. 

Have the children write original problems for the school to solve. 

Teach the dividing of words at the ends of lines. Do not let the 
punctuation learned in the third year be forgotten. 

Continue spelling and drill upon grammatical forms. 

READING 

Read, from school readers, any lessons related to the other work. 
Select stories, from the various primary histories, that deal with 
pioneer life. One of the best books lor use in this connection is 
"Stories of Ohio," by W. D. Howells. 

Read stories of domestic animals — "Black Beauty," "Duke," 
"The Strike at Shane's," "Colliery Jim," and the stories about dogs 
suggested by Hodge in his "Nature Study and Life," page 37. 

Read "The Frost Spirit," by Whittier. 

Aim to have the pupils commit to memory, for special exercises, 
selections worth knowing. The quality of the Friday afternoon 
exercises should steadily improve. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY ' 

Sir.ce an important topic in the month is domestic animals, some 
of the best pictures of animals should be studied. For example: 



NOVEMBER — LANGUAGE 119 

"Dignity and Impudence," Landseer. 

"My Dog, " Landseer. 

"Saved," (Dogs and Kitten), Sperling. 

"The Horse Fair," or "A Noble Charger," Bonheur. 

The religious idea of the month is praise and thanksgiving. The 
Psalms should be read, and Michael Angelo's "David," (the head) 
be added to the pictures. 

. SONG 
"Twilight Is Stealing." 

THE ARTS 

I. CONSTRUCTION 

Make the pioneer's house. Use logs — that is, small poles — if 
possible to obtain them. If not, make the house out of a box, or use 
cardboard. Discarded boxes from dry-goods stores may be had 
for the asking. When the house is finished, paint the outside in 
water-color to represent logs. Do not put this rough log-house 
over the carefully made cellar of last month. That belongs to the 
modern farmhouse. 

Build the chimney of stone for this house. Some would-be iron 
worker in the class can get a piece of iron for the crane. Hooks to 
attach to the crane, a poker and rude tongs can be bent into shape, 
and a sort of shovel made. It is not impossible that a moulder, 
where there is a foundry in the neighborhood, or even a blacksmith, 
would fashion a kettle. 

It is easier to make the rude furniture. For a good detailed 
account of it, see Chapter XVI of "Stories of Ohio," by W. D. 
Howells. The pupils can make the beds, tables, shelves, splint 
brooms, cups, bowls, plates, etc. 

The girls may dress several dolls as pioneers, and may hang 
from the ceiling aromatic herbs, peppers, dried apples, rings of 



120 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

dried pumpkin, beans in pod, seeds in bags, a, piece of dried beef, 
nuts and popcorn. Miniature sticks and logs of wood may be put 
into the fireplace, and a toy gun hung upon the wall. 

The patchwork described under Arithmetic may be done on a 
small scale, and a quilt added to the furnishings. 

A few suggestions about teaching sewing may not be out of place. 
The work may be done at school as class work, or the girls may be 
encouraged to do it at their homes. In either case, give explicit 
directions, which it is well to have copied. If the work is done at 
school, allow some recreation after study before the sewing is begun. 
Tell the children that most if not all European princesses learn to 
sew, and that they follow these rules : 

1. Your hands must be very clean. No one can sew well with 

sticky, perspiring hands. The needle must be kept bright and 
shining, and the thread clean. 

2. Next, both you and the princess must cut your pieces with great 

exactness, always using a paper pattern, and never cutting one 
piece by another. 

3. Pin the pattern to the cloth and see that it is smooth before cut- 

ting. Lay all straight edges exactly straight with the threads 
of the goods. 

4. Having cut the pieces or patches for a block, plan which seams 

should be sewed first. 

5. Use No. 50 thread or cotton, and a needle that is just right for 

the thread. Never use a needle that is too coarse or too fine, 
or bent, or sticky. You cannot do good work unless the 
needle is right. 

6. Never take a thread more than half a yard long. A long thread 

is a sure sign of an unskilful needlewoman. 

7. After sewing the first stitch, take a back stitch to make the 

beginning strong. 

8. Smooth out your work after every needleful of stitches. 



NOVEMBER — THE ARTS 121 

9. Keep the edges even. Make your stitches even. Do not hold 
one edge fuller than the other. Smooth out your seam before 
fastening the thread. 
10. Fasten the thread well. If you heed all of this, your work will 
be as neat as that of a princess, and your bed-quilt good enough 
for a king, 

II. DRAWING AND COLOR WORK 

Draw a map of Pennsylvania. Locate the oil fields. Make 
also a map of the Ohio and Mississippi basins. Draw oil derricks, 
and patterns for patchwork. 

Paint a November landscape, and a window with plants in it; 
also, farm animals, and game. Draw and color a scene like that 
on page 155 of Howells's ''Stories of Ohio." 

III. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

Sketch scenes from "Miles Standish": 

1. The house where Standish and Alden live. 

2. Each wall as it appears inside. 

3. John Alden going through the woods. 

4. Priscilla spinning. 

5. Miles Standish and his men. 

6. The departure of the Mayflower. 

7. Miles Standish and the Indians. 

8. John and Priscilla when they hear that Standish is dead. 

9. The wedding. 

Draw a November calendar. 




NATURE STUDY 

Continue the care of plants. Observe the effect of sunHght or 
the lack of it upon the window garden. Turn some plants fre- 
quently and let others remain in the same position. Observe the 
effect. Compare the growth of plants started from slips with those 
taken from the ground. 

Watch the thermometer in the cold-frame, and add some cover- 
ing for very cold days. 

Encourage the children to plant Chinese lilies. If they 
cannot afford to do this individually, let the school get three 
or four vigorous specimens and ow^n them together. 

Bring in one of the pots of bulbs planted in Septem- 
ber, give it water and Avatch the result. Do not bring 
it suddenly into the warm air of the schoolroom, 
but try to keep it at a temperature of 
60° or below. If the season is very 
v.arm, it may be put into the cold- 




nt:z 







122 



DECEMBER NATURE STUDY 123 

frame for a few days, then into the cloak-room, and finally into 
the schoolroom. 

Count the birds' nests to be found in the bare trees of the neigh- 
borhood, in order to tell whether many birds nest in the locality. 
Notice and report all winter birds seen. Plan to feed some of the 
seed-eating birds after a snow-storm; also soft-billed birds. (See 
Hodge's ''Nature Study and Life," Chapters XXI and XXII.) 
This is preparatory to a careful study of birds to be carried on in 
the fifth year. 

Continue the weather observations. 

The work suggested for December in nature study is short, 
because the school month is usually shortened, and the pupils' 
interests and activities are dominated by the Christmas idea. 
Besides, considerable time is given to the subject earlier in the year. 



GEOGRAPHY 

I. THE OCEAN 

The great geographical feature to be studied this month is the 
ocean. The aim is not only to teach certain facts about the ocean, 
but to use the imagination actively in trying to get a vivid concep- 
tion of this most impressive of the wonders of earth. 

Try to give ideas of the varying appearance and color, the vast- 
ness, depth, saltness and beauty of the ocean. Tell of its waves, 
currents, calms, and temperature. 

Teach that the ocean supplies rain, receives the drainage of the 
world, and acts both as a great highway and a great barrier between 
countries. 

Teach the industries connected with the ocean, the passenger 
service and the freight traffic, sailing and steam vessels, fishing, 
whaling, and the gathering of clams and oysters. Describe the 



124 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

dangers of navigation — fogs, icebergs, storms, rocks, collisions, 
leaks, fire, derelicts, etc. 

Picture the seashore to the pupils, giving them ideas of a sandy 
beach, seashells, bathing, tides, the undertow, a harbor, a light- 
house, bell buoys, etc. 

Suggestions 

Do not undertake to present these points seriatim. Rather expect 
most of them to come up naturally in connection with voyages and 
industries. 

The teacher should use her discretion with regard to the stories 
of pirates. 

Much of this work can be utilized for language topics. 

The best helps are: 

1. Descriptions by people who know the ocean: 

Best of all, an old sailor; next, some one who has crossed the 
ocean. If neither of these can be secured to help, it is always 
possible to find some one who has spent some time at the seashore. 

2. Literature: 

The best service travelers can render, unless fhey are especially 
gifted in description, is to make the ideas seem real. The main 
dependence in teaching this subject is upon literature. 

3. Pictures: 

Get all the pictures possible of the ocean, ships, etc. Cover the 
walls with them for a time. Live in imagination with the sailors. 
Sing songs of the sea. 

4. Globe and maps: 

Use the globe constantly to avoid giving an exaggerated notion 
of the size of the Polar oceans. Make a map of the Atlantic to 
prevent a mental picture of its being cut in two, as it seems to be 
on the map of the hemispheres. Make a map of the entire Pacific 
for the same reason. 



DECEMBER GEOGRAPHY 125 

II. CALENDAR OF HARVESTS 

Emphasize the harvests of the southern hemisphere. In this 
connection get a letter, a newspaper, or a school report from 
Australia, or a paper from South Africa. These will help greatly 
in realizing the fact that Christmas, in the southern half of the globe, 
comes in mid-summer. 

III. COAL 

Watch all through the month to see whether the river keeps high 
enough to float the coal. This will bring up the questions. Are the 
mines worked in winter? What makes work slack sometimes? 
Why is it better to send coal by water than by rail? Why 
is part of the coal shipped by the railroads? Nearly all of the 
industries in this region are connected with coal in one way or 
another, and these questions, worked out as fully as the pupils can 
grasp, will show the dependence of one kind of labor upon another. 

HISTORY 

I. BLOCKHOUSES 

Soon after the pioneers came into the Ohio Valley, the Indians 
began to show their hostility to such an extent that the settlers had 
to build blockhouses to protect themselves. The pupils should 
construct a blockhouse, of saplings if possible. This would be 
difficult for fourth-grade boys alone, but the older boys of a school 
can always be interested in work of this kind, and are glad to help. 
If the small poles cannot be had, then a model made of match 
sticks, or even cardboard or stiff paper, is better than nothing. 
The TVTiter's own pupils made a blockhouse of poles two inches in 
diameter, using the scale of one to six all the way through. (See 
illustration, p. 126.) 



126 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 




The poles might be procured, by an energetic school, from 
schools in remote and mountainous districts. Pupils from the 
city could easily collect things that illustrate city life and send 
them in exchange for the poles, so the only necessary expense 



DECEMBER — HISTORY 127 

would be the freight. There should be far more of this cooperation 
than there is now. It exercises the activities and arouses the sym- 
pathies of the pupils in an educative way that is highly desirable. 

II. FASHIONS IN THE WOODS 
Discuss the needs, condition, and resources of the pioneers in 
regard to clothing. Why could they not bring it over the moun- 
tains? What would the forest offer in the way of clothing? Apply 
what has been learned of furs and skins to the dress of the pioneers. 
What else might they have to wear? (Linen. For an account of 
the raising of flax, see "The Beginning of the West," by the writer 
of this book. For the women's work with flax, see "The Latimers," 
by H. C. McCook.) 

Later, when the clearings were larger, sheep were kept and 
woolen clothes could be made. 

III. GOING TO MARKET 
a. Eastward Over the Mountains. 

Develop with the pupils, what articles the pioneers must go after 
— salt, lead, knives, axes, saws, plowpoints, needles. Next discuss 
what they could take to eastern markets to sell. Furs and skins. 
How could these be carried? On pack-horses. How did the 
horses subsist on the way? For part of the way on grain carried; 
for the rest, by browsing. How did the men live? Tell the pupils 
that one man often took his own horses and those of several of his 
neighbors, thus saving time and expense for them. Tell how 
eager the boys were to share this eastern trip. Give a vivid de- 
scription of camping at night. "This old-fashioned train ran for 
more than forty years." 
h. Boating Doivn the Ohio. 

Recall the difficulty of crossing the mountain, and develop the 
idea that the pioneers would look for another market. If pupils 
do not know, tell them that the produce might be carried down the 
Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans. 



128 the fourth school year 

Points to be Developed or Told 

1. The raft or flat-boat. The advantage of each. 

2. The preparation: Bringing the goods to the place of starting. 

How the load was made up. Choosing the company to go. 
*'The provision box," or the food they took. 

3. Diflficulties : Water too low or too high ; strong currents ; winds; 

rocks, shoals and snags. Steering the raft. Procuring good 
drinking water. 

4. Dangers: Indians; falls or rapids; sickness from exposure. 

Picture such a trip as vividly as possible, the new scenes, the 
excitement, the pleasures, the monotony, the change of climate. 
Tell that the barges or rafts were broken up and sold as lum- 
ber at New Orleans. The teacher may use her discretion 
about describing the town of New Orleans at that day. 

5. The return: Walking back; organizing into a company for 

safety. 

6. Difficulties and dangers of the return: Lack of roads, bridges 

and hotels; scarcity of pure water, and food. Danger from 
malaria, robbers and Indians. 

IV. WORK OF THE PIONEERS 

Describe the work of the pioneer farmer, in sowing, planting, 
and haying and harvesting. Have models of the tools used made 
as constructive work. 

Take up the hunting and curing of meat, the hand mill for 
grinding grain, the mode of supplying fuel, and the making of 
maple sugar. 

The work of the women consisted in the making of butter and 
cheese; drying and preserving fruit; boiling cider; making soap 
and starch; washing, picking, carding, spinning and dyeing wool; 
weaving, fulling and pressing cloth; knitting; spinning and weav- 
ing flax. 



DECEMBER HISTORY 



129 



V. SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES 

Describe the old-time schools as to style of buildings, windows, 
doors, fireplace, floor and seats. Also the books, pens, copy-books, 
and as much of the methods used as would interest the children. 

Tell of the old log church, and of the open-air service in the 
summer, the long sermons and long prayers, the lining of hymns, 
the log benches, rude communion table and pulpit. 




■^ rouoc\ C^s^ 3^^^v^-Yx 



VI. AJMUSEMENTS 

Some of the amusements of the men in those days were imitating 
the calls of animals; throwing the tomahawk; shooting at a target. 
The women had "bees" for quilting, se^\'ing rags for carpet, picking 
wool, etc. There were also "bees" among the men, for raising 
houses and barns, rolling logs together when clearing land, and in 



130 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

chopping wood, and *'bees" among the young people for husking 
corn, and paring and coring apples to be dried. 

Read from Gist's Journal, especially his Christmas. 

LITERATURE 

For December, Louise de la Rame's story of "A Dog of Flan- 
ders' ' is chosen because it is a good Christmas story and the approach 
of Christmas is the dominating thought in the minds of the children. 
Another reason is that the topic, care of domestic animals, in the 
November nature study, should be carried on by the reading of 
some of the best stories of animals. But the best reason for its selec- 
tion is that it is genuine literature. It may not be so artistic in its 
structure as some other classics. It is sometimes difficult to tell 
which is the central figure, the boy or the dog. And when we 
have decided that it is the relation between the two that gives the 
story its unity, we are overlooking the aspiration of Nello to become 
an artist, which lends such pathos to the story. 

But no matter about all this. It is better to take the story as it 
is. It is told with such simplicity and power that it may be en- 
joyed by old and young, the man of seventy as well as the boy of 
seven. Nello and Patrasche and Alois are good company for 
pupils and teacher to be with, and the charm of the story is such 
that no one can read it and not feel that he has shared in the tragedy. 

There is not much for the teacher to do, beyond seeing that the 
classic is well read. By this time, nearly all of it can be read by the 
best readers of the class, with a little help. The teacher should 
begin the reading, and read as expressively as possible until a strong 
interest is aroused. Indeed, this is a good rule for introducing any 
piece of literature. Many a child is repelled by a book which has a 
dry or tedious beginning. Only Kipling can be depended upon 
to make a strong, attractive beginning. After the work is well 
started, the children will listen to even an indifferent reader. If 



DECEMBER — LITERATURE 131 

thought best, the story may be used as a part of the morning exer- 
cises. 

The following divisions are suggested : 

1. Description of the village. Introduction of the soldier and 

little Nello. The peddler and Patrasche. The dog left for 
dead at the roadside. 

2. Old Daas and Nello find the dog. His recovery. His gratitude. 

The old man lays dowTi the work, and the boy takes it up. 

3. The life of Nello and Patrasche. Rubens. (At this point 

in the story is an excellent opportunity to teach something of 
the place Rubens holds in art, by showing that even a child 
knew he was great.) 

4. Little Alois. Nello draws her portrait. (Emphasize the scene 

where Nello refuses money for the portrait of his little friend.) 
He is not invited to her party. 

5. Nello works at his picture for the prize. He finds the little doll, 

and gives it to Alois. 

6. The fire. Accusations against Nello. He loses his work. 

7. Death of the grandfather. Nello and Patrasche made homeless. 

Nello fails to win the prize. Patrasche finds the purse. Christ- 
mas Eve at the mill-house. Christmas Eve for Nello. The end. 

When the story is ended, see to it that the children' realize that 
no one wished to have Nello and Patrasche starve and freeze, but 
that the people were simply indifferent, careless and selfish. Do 
not spoil the story by preaching about it. 

ARITHMETIC 

The new process to be taught is the addition of fractions. It 
can be worked out concretely with the fractions of yards which 
will come up in the questions about trimmings. 

Continue drill upon fractional parts. 



132 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



I. HOUSE-BUILDING 

If the plan of the doll-house suggested in the outline for Con- 
struction is carried out, there will be plenty of real problems con- 
nected with it. If it is quite impossible to undertake this construc- 
tion, make a model of 
such a house out of card- 
board boxes. It cannot 
be finished as the wooden 
house could, but the model 
can be made well enough 
to make clear to the class 
what the plan is. Indeed, 
one of the best ways to 



^ooi 



^rr 







/Ir ' 



PLAN OF DOLL-HOUSE 



get such work started, when it has to be done by the children at 
home, is to show clearly the possibilities. When a boy sees how 
artistic such a house would be, he at once wishes to build it. 



december arithmetic 133 

Suggestions for Problems 

If the doll-house represents a real house 16' x 24', how wide 
should the overhanging eaves be? 

How large should the door be? The window? The chimney? 

How many square inches should there be in the roof? How 
many in one side? In the two sides? In the two ends with- 
out the gables? (Since each gable is a right-angled triangle, 
with the diagonal resting upon the lower box, show the children 
how to complete the square, and find the area of the two ends 
together.) 

How many pieces of shingles will be needed to cover the house, 
if each covers one square inch? 

If there are twenty-five boys in the school, how many pieces of 
sliingle would each boy need to prepare, if each does an equal share 
of the work? 

If the pieces for the upper six rows are rounded off at the lower 
edge, how many of these will be needed? 

11. SEWING 

Arithmetic aids in clothing us in two ways, helping us to find 
the cost of our clothes, and to make them the right shape and size. 
Little is said here about cost, because the arithmetics are full of 
money problems. 

1'he application of arithmetic to the construction of garments in 
the fourth grade should have the following gradations : 

Calculate the quantity of cloth in actual garments that the pupils 
may examine at home. For example, see apron and skirt problems 
given below. These all deal with garments easily examined in the 
home. 

Reduce patterns with straight edges, according to a certain scale, 
to dimensions suitable for dolls, and calculate the amount of 
material needed. 



134 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Enlarge patterns for dolls, until they are large enough to fit tho 
pupils. Use these patterns in planning costumes for a historic 
play. Calculate the quantity of cloth needed. 

Numerous experiments may be made with dressing dolls to rep- 
r:3cnt the characters in a historic drama, and when the costumes 
: re satisfactory the larger garments may be made by the children to 
be used in a play. 

Estimate the amount of trimming needed for certain garments. 
This admits of a great variety of arithmetic. An almost endless 
number of problems can be made relative to the amount of ribbon, 
braids, lace, embroideries, appliques, etc.; also bands, bias and 
straight, facings, rufflings, plaitings, ruchings, etc. 

Reduce patterns with curved edges to a scale. This requires 
care, but it pays. A girl has a delightful sense of power when she 
can take a figure like the one for a shirt waist on page 135 and 
enlarge it correctly, or take a j^attern her mother uses for her, and 
reduce it. 

The curved lines may be drawn free-hand, and will be suffi- 
ciently correct for dolls. Find the amount of material needed for 
the following garments, disregarding the width : 

1. Kitchen apron, gingham, straight, 1 yard long, 2 breadths wide; 

belt 1 inch wide, 2G inches long, crosswise of cloth; hem, 1 
inch. Allow j inch to turn under for all seams, and 1 inch 
for shrinking; that is, finish the apron 37 inches long. 

2. Similar apron f yard long, with straight ruffle added, J yard 

wide; hem, 1 inch; fulness, 3 breadths of the cloth. Allow 
1 inch at top for setting on. 

3. Similar apron with bib, 1 breadth wide, 9 inches long when fin- 

ished; aflow ^-inch seam at belt, and 1| inch for ruffle at 
top. 

4. Dolls' aprons. Plan aprons one-sixth the above lengths; make 

the width in good proportion, but do not require exactness. 






r- 

/ Inrvvt. / 




136 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

It is too difficult to reduce both dimensions at once. Leave 
lower hems same width, belt J inch, and seams | inch. 

5. Same as No. 2 except for size. 

6. Same as No. 3 except for size. 

7. Calculate material for straight skirts of varying lengths, giving 

number of widths to be used, and width of hem. 
•8. Same, with tucks of various widths. 

9. Plan gored aprons, goring or slanting the front breadth only, 

cutting the remaining one in two, sewing a straight half-width 
. to each side. Give width of goods, and width of gores taken 
off, then compare top with bottom. Draw the pattern to 
scale of one-sixth; vary width of gores. 

10. Plan plain gored skirts in same way, one of three gores, 

one of five, of seven and of nine. Find amount of material 
needed. 

Other problems may be found in the weather record, and in the 
measuring, buying and storing of fuel. 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

**How I Should Like to Spend Christmas." 
"How the Pioneers Went to Market." 
Imaginary story of ocean adventure. 

Continue Gist's Journal. Make a careful record of his Christ- 
mas. 

Write with great care all the note-taking required by the nature 
study. 

Teach the proper use of ''may" and ''can." 

Reproduce orally parts of the story of "A Dog of Flanders." 



DECEMBER LANGUAGE 137 

Dictate short, simple Christmas thoughts, e.g., 
What is the thought of Christmas? 

Giving. 
What is the heart of Christmas? 

Love. 
What is the hope of Christmas? 

Living. 
What is the joy of Christmas? 

Love. 
No silver or gold is needed for 

giving, 
If the heart is filled with Christmas 

love. 

READING 

Search the readers for selections embodying the chief ideas of the 
month, i.e., mnter, Christmas, the ocean, deep-sea fishing, and 
pioneer life. 

Emphasize the dramatic in the reading. Have selected readings 
by different pupils. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY 

''The Angel Choir," Reynolds. 
"The Flight into Egypt," Plockhorst. 
"Christmas Bells," Blashfield. 
"Head of Christ," from "Christ Dis- 
puting mth the Doctors," Hofmann. 
"The Shepherdess," J. F. Millet. 

SONGS 

"There's a Good Time Coming, Help It On." 
Christmas songs. 

THE ARTS 

I. WOODWORK 

If the work of making a cellar went on successfully and the 
building of the pioneer house was enjoyed, the pupils may find 



138 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



pleasure in making a doll-house to give away. (None of these 
pieces of work to be done by groups or by the entire school should 







EASILY-CONSTRUCTED BASKETS 



be allowed to drag.) The Christmas idea should find expression in 
giving; and the things given should be the child's own work, not 
articles bought with money begged from the parents. Cooperation 



DECEMBER THE ARTS 139 

in making a doll-house is not a new idea, but it is advised here 
because it is good. 

If it is not convenient to carry out this idea, then the children 
may make baskets and fancy boxes, as gifts for their friends. There 
is so much good material on basket-making now that directions 
need not be repeated here. If the boys do not undertake the hous?, 
they may make the windmill referred to in the story "A Dog of 
Flanders." 

A pretty doll-house is made of two boxes; those that starch or 
soap comes in may be used. Have a carpenter take the sides off 
one and then saw the ends diagonally in two. Of course the bot- 
tom and side must be of the same width. This triangular part 
may be placed upon the other box for a roof. The two boxes must 
be the same length, but the one used for the roof must be of such 
a size that the diagonal of the end is just as long as the lower 
box is wide. Upright strips at each corner give a finish to this 
house, and help to strengthen it. 

A beautiful way to finish such a house is to cover it with shingle. 
At any place where cedar or pine shingles are used there are always 
enough waste pieces to cover a number of doll-houses. These 
shingles are so soft and thin that they can be easily handled by the 
boys with the aid of a sharp knife, and very small nails; or the 
pieces may be glued in place. Use the thicker end, of the shingles 
for the lower rows. The shingles may be cut into lengths of about 
four inches with a fine saw. These pieces may then be split into 
mimic shingles about one inch in width. It will be easy to cut the 
lower end of the pieces into semicircular shape, instead of putting 
them on square, if the boys care to do the work. (See p. 140.) 
A coat of shingle stain completes a very pretty house. Thin strips 
must be added to the roof before the shingles are put on, to make 
the projecting eaves. Or these may be made by a double row of 
longer shingles. 

If this plan involves too much work, the house may merely be 



140 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



painted. The pupils may add such doors, windows, steps and 
chimneys as they have the skill to make. 

It might be objected that this work is a mere make-shift, and 
quite unpedagogical — that we do not take big boxes and make 
them into houses for ourselves. But doubtless we should if there 




^K^ick oy Do[l-hov/^e 



were such boxes. What we do when we build a house is to use 
the materials best adapted to our purpose, if we can get them. 
The boys are doing the same thing in principle; that is, they adapt 
means to ends when they make a doll-house out of a soap box. 

11. PATTERN -MAKING AND SEWING 

Get a simple sack apron pattern for a child. Reduce it one- 
fourth or one-sixth or more. Use newspapers as cloth. Call them 



DECEMBER — THE ARTS 141 

gingham 27 inches wide. If the pattern is reduced one-fourth, 
cut strips of newspaper 6J inches wide, and let pupils measure and 
cut sack aprons. Assume that the material is a sheer muslin 36 
inches wide. Use white printing paper. Let pupils cut garments, 
and paste them together, using white library paste or flour paste. 
By adding a little water-color, or even strips of colored or gilt paper, 
a set of doll's garments may be made that will be very much enjoyed 
if sent to a children's hospital, or to any very poor children. 

Other garments that may be made are: a horse-shoe apron, a 
bertha, a cape, a long, full cloak, such as is used for babies, a long, 
circular cloak, shirt waists, Eton jackets, and underwear. 

The present uses which may be made of all this work are: 

1. To enable the girls to dress their own dolls. 

2. To dress figures for the doll-house to be made by the school, 

and given to some home for poor children. 

3. To dress figures as Puritans, Quakers, pioneer hunters, etc., 

in order the better to picture these people in the history 
lessons. 

4. To help prepare the pupils' own costumes for representing 

scenes in history and literature. 

5. To give the pupils arithmetic that is really practical. For 

specimen problems, see Arithmetic. 

6. To enable the girls to take a more intelligent interest in the 

industries of the home, and the shop, which is very much 
needed in these days of cheap, badly-fitted ready-made gar- 
ments. 

III. DRAWING AND COLOR WORK 

Draw patterns for dolls' garments. Teach the making of simple 
working drawings of the doll-house. 

These include a sketch of each side and end, with windows o 
window and door in place, drawn to a scale. 



142 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Discuss the color of the outside of the doll-house and the decora- 
tion of the interior. If wall-paper is to be used, what are the colors 
to be? If the decoration is to consist of water-color work by pupils, 
what colors and designs shall be used? Make the designs, if this 
latter form of decoration is decided upon. If tapestry is chosen, 
select cloth that can be used in this way. Discuss and decide as 
to colors for floor and window shades. 

All the time that can be spared for color study may be put upon 
the house and its accessories, but it will be well to paint a Flemish 
dog, wagon, girl, and house as they are pictured in "A Dog of 
Flanders." 

IV. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

Make sketches suggested by the literature, especially the dog, 
the hut where Nello lived, the better house of the burgomaster, and 
the windmill. Draw the scene between Nello and the master, 
when the latter finds Nello drawing the picture of Alois. Draw 
also the picture of the woodman. 

The teacher should copy the design for the December calendar 
on the board and have the pupils draw it. 




I mfTM-Mtm-M tgiR- 



NATURE STUDY 

Continue the care and observation of plants in the schoolroom. 
Try to find answers to the questions in botany given in Jackman's 
"Nature Study," for January. 

Since cold is the condition which affects life most during this 
month, it should receive the most emphasis when consider- 
ing the weather. Have pupils notice: 

1. How cold affects animal life. How we 
can tell that a horse is kept in a cold 
barn. 

2. How it affects human life. Do we eat 
more or less? The same food or 
different kinds 
from those we eat 
in warm weather? 



143 




144 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

3. What industries go on the same in winter as in warm weather? 
What ones do not? Among the kinds of work, that of the 
farmer is sure to be named. Is the cold weather the only 
reason that his work changes? Point out that farm work is 
interesting because of its variety. 

Little can be done directly this month in the study of farm 
life, but indirectly the children may be led to understand condi- 
tions. The manner in which we heat our houses in cities may be 
contrasted with the way country houses are heated.* If possible, 
the pupils should visit a typical farmhouse which does not contain 
modern improvements. If this can be done, it forms a basis for 
comparison. Bring out that nature rests in winter, and that the 
farmer does so to some extent. He must care for his animals and 
fight against cold. If his house is heated with wood fires, he may 
provide fuel for the next winter. Describe the chopping bees of 
the pioneers. 

Indoors, what foods are injured by cold? Vegetables, fresh 
fruits, eggs, etc. What ones are preserved by cold? Meats, fish, 
etc. What food materials are made inconvenient to handle? Syrup, 
honey, batter, lard, butter, etc. 

Can bread freeze? Cake? Pie? Preserves? Jellies? 

What food materials are not injured by cold? Grain, flour, 
dried fruit, dried corn, beans, peas, nuts, popcorn, sugar, etc. 

How does cold affect milk, cream? How can the farmer keep 
things from freezing if he has no furnace in his house? (By keep- 
ing them in a cellar.) Why do potatoes freeze in some cellars and 
not in others? How may a cellar be made warm? (Thick wall, 
outside door doubled, banking of straw outside, fire in a stove.) 
What other way has the farmer of keeping vegetables from freezing? 

* The providing of steam heat by a company is a good example of cooperation 
and specialization of labor, for the pupils to study. They find just the opposite 
condition on the farm, where both the farmer and his wife do many kinds of work. 



JANUARY NATURE STUDY 145 

(Burying them.) Why are apples and potatoes better that are 
kept in earth? Which will freeze first — water, milk, cider or vinegar? 
What is the effect of cold upon oil, iron, insects, reptiles, machinery? 

Encourage the pupils to make experiments to see which freeze 
most easily — potatoes, apples, cabbages, turnips, onions, etc. 

The purpose of this work is not to teach the facts about a farm- 
house suggested above, nor the answers to the questions given, but 
to have the pupils study nature in its relation to a phase of life 
which they can to a considerable degree understand. This prac- 
tical observation lays a foundation for the scientific study of heat 
and cold later on. 

This study of the relation between cold and housekeeping should 
be applied in the history class, when the life of the Indians or the 
fur trader or the pioneer, in winter, is under discussion. 

When a good opportunity offers, i.e., when it snows, begin a 
study of/ snow, snow crusts, and avalanches. Use the questions 
on page 85 of Frye's ''Geography with Sand Modeling." Add 
the following questions : 

1. What is a snow-drift? Why is it hard? 

2. Which makes better sleighing, one deep snow-fall or several 

slight ones? Why? 

3. In what condition should a road be in order that a snow-fall may 

make it good for sleighing? 

Wrap an apple, a piece of bread, a small bottle of water, and 
some leaves of a house plant in paper, then in a woolen cloth. 
Bury them deep in the snow, and pack it well. Examine them 
the next day and see whether or not they are frozen. 

In the geography work, describe an avalanche. 

Tell of the trouble snow causes railroads. Incidentally discuss 
keeping the sidewalks free from snow. Tell of the snow-plow or 
scraper used for the sidewalks in northern towns after a snow-fall. 



146 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Who should clean the walks, the town authorities or each house- 
holder? Which is the cheaper way? What are the reasons why it 
should be well done? 

GEOGRAPHY 

I. MANUFACTURES 

If the children are trying to weave, in the construction work, 
all the study of manufacturing processes should center around that. 
If not, some industry which can be simply explained should be 
studied before taking up the next region. For western Pennsyl- 
vania, the making of glass, brick, tile, artificial stone, or paper is 
advised. Crude experiments may be made with all of these things. 
Artificial stone, or concrete, is likely to succeed best. 

Before leaving the state, it may be reviewed by adding the rail- 
roads not yet located. Compare the railroad map of the state with 
the map of the fur traders' routes. (See map, p. 65.) Have 
pupils draw both. 

II. ST. LAWRENCE RIVER 

Location, direction, early importance, present usefulness, inter- 
esting geographical and historical facts. Compare with the Monon- 
gahela, with the Ohio, with the Mississippi. 

III. THE GREAT LAKES 

Names, position, area by comparison, depth, clearness, color, 
appearance; fishing, traffic, excursions. Locate the cities of 
Buffalo, Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit, Milwaukee, Chicago, 
and Duluth. The location of these places is to be taught. Com- 
pare the lakes w^th the ocean as to whether one can see across; 
storms ; weaves ; temperature of water as show^n by its use for bathing, 
and by it 3 freezing. 

Teach the Niagara Falls because of the pleasure children take 
in natural wonders. 




MAP OF THE PORTAGES 



148 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

IV. HUDSON BAY AND NORTHERN CANADA 
By this is meant the parts of Canada too far north for the growing 
of corn and wheat, and for good gardens. This distinction makes 
a much better isotherm for a child than any average of temperature 
expressed in figures. Teach the location and the characteristic 
features of the region, including the animal life, people, and how 
they live. 

V. ALASKA 

Teach its location; how it is reached; its people, plant and ani- 
mal life, gold mining, hunting, and fishing. Keep the work well 
within the reach of the pupils. 

VI. PORTAGES 

Among the important geographical features which one must 
know if he is to understand routes of travel, are passes and portages. 
Children often think of the Alleghany Mountains as a high wall, 
and of the Rocky Mountains as a much higher one. This can be 
avoided from the beginning, for both the portage and the mountain 
pass are easily understood by children. Since the Mississippi 
Valley and the Great Lakes have been taught, it is well to teach 
the carrying places between. 

Justin Winsor's "Mississippi Basin" is taken as the authority 
for the portages listed here: 

From the Maumee to the Wabash. 

From Green Bay to the Wisconsin River, by way of the Fox 
River and Lake Winnebago. 

From the St. Joseph to the Kankakee. 

From the Chicago River to the Des Plaines and Illinois, and 
thence down the Mississippi. (See map, p. 147.) 

Suggestions 
In handling these topics, continue to use the globe in order to 
keep the ideas of relative position right. Avoid using a map of 



JANUARY — GEOGRAPHY 149 

North America on Mercator's projection, because it makes Canada 
appear too large. 

Have the pupils draw maps of North America, locating all the 
features thus far studied, and tracing the portages carefully. 

As in the case of other rivers and the ocean, for vivid ideas depend 
upon history, oral descriptions by the teacher or by travelers, books 
of travel, and such classic literature as may be found relating to the 
lakes. The references to the lakes in "Hiawatha" will have 
aroused some interest. 

Vn. HARVESTS 

Make a calendar of January harvests. Contrast the hunting 
and trapping for furs of the Hudson Bay Company's men, with the 
work in Argentina, Australia and South Africa. 

HISTORY 

THE INDIAN FUR TRADE 

This business, as has been previously pointed out, is one of the 
richest subjects that could be offered to the fourth grade. It has 
been frequently referred to in the work thus far. Its establishment 
was a part of Conrad Weiser's treaty and of Celoron's mission; 
and was the real purpose of the founding of the Ohio Company, and 
the excuse for Gist's journey. The trade gave to the frontiersman 
a permanent source of income, and it gave us much of our early 
knowledge of the geography of the United States. 

By this time it is well to summarize what the pupils have learned 
and help them to get a connected view of the whole subject. 

Points to be Brought Out 

1. The fact that the white people bought furs of the Indians in 
such quantities as to constitute a very important business. 

2. This trade began long before any settlers came over to this 
country. 



450 THE FOUKT.I SCHOOL YEAR 

3. Extent: Show that this business extended through all of the 
French and English colonies. 

4. Show how it gradually moved westward until the white trader 
went far after the furs instead of waiting for them to be brought 
to him. Locate the important trading posts of Montreal, Osvvego, 
Sandusky, Logstown, Pickawillany, the points along the Mississippi 
River, and the very important trading village in northeastern 
Georgia. 

5. The Indian's method of obtaining the furs. How he trapped 
and hunted. Compare with accounts given by John Burroughs 
and Ernest Thompson Seton. Where the Indian found the best 
furs. How he prepared the skins. How he brought them to the 
white man. 

6. How the white trader (called Indian trader because he traded 
with the Indians) paid for the furs. How the trader carried the 
goods to pay for the furs to his trading house in the Indian country. 
How he carried the furs east to be shipped to Europe. How the 
trader lived at his post after he had taken his goods out in the fall, 
until the Indians brought in the furs to sell him the next spring. 

These points are not to be presented to the children in a formal 
way in the order given above. The outline is for the teacher, and 
sums up what the children may be expected to know at the end of 
the month's work. 

A teacher who has not a pretty full knowledge of the subject 
would do well to read what is said of the fur trade in the following 
books : 

''The Mississippi Basin," Justin Winsor. 

"La Salle," Francis Parkman. 

"The Old Regime in Canada," Francis Parkman. 

"On Snow Shoes to the Barren Grounds," Caspar Whitney. 

"Life of an Indian Fur Trader," in "American History Told by 
Contemporaries, " Vol. II, A. B. Hart. 



JANUARY HISTORY 151 

"The Beginning of the West," by the writer of this book. (Near- 
ly ready). 

Outline for the First Lesson 

1. Recall all that the pupils know of the fur-bearing animals, 
such as the beaver, mink, marten, fox, squirrel, lynx, otter, muskrat, 
bear, etc. 

2. If possible, visit a zoological garden, or a museum. 

3. Use pictures. 

4. Bring out why the animals wear thick fur, and why it grows 
thicker as we go north. 

5. How the Indians trapped the animals, and prepared the skins. 

Topics for Other Lessons 

1. The Hudson Bay fur traders. 

2. The French fur traders. Picture the fairs held by the French 

to attract the Indians, as described by Parkman in ''The Old 
Regime in Canada," p. 303. 

3. The New York fur trade. See Hart's "History Told by Con- 

temporaries," Vol. I. 

4. The Pennsylvania trade. See "The Beginning of the West." 

See, also, map of the fur traders' routes. 

5. The goods traded with the Indians. What these were, and the 

work of carrying them over the mountains, are well brought 
out in the following bill, copied from the Pennsylvania archives. 
Vol. XV, Second Series. 

Province of Penn'a to George Croghan, Dr. 

Dec. 1st, 1751. 

To cash paid for provisions for the hands that went with the 
goods, viz.. 

To 2 cwt. flour £l-Os 

To 100 lbs. bacon £2-10s 

To 1 cwt. of tobacco, which I bought bv order of Conrad Weiser. .£l-5s 
To 60 lbs. of deerskins to wrap the goods in £5-0s 



152 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

To the hire of 12 horses sent by me to carry the goods sent by me 

to the Ohio, @ 40s each £24-0s 

To 2 men's wages from the first of Dec. to the first of May, is five 

months, @ 40s eacli month £20-0s 

To 1,000 white wampum which I gave at the speeches £l-10s 

April 28, To goods of my own which I was obliged to add to the 
present sent by the Province, finding near 1,500 Indians, 
in great want of powder, lead, etc., the present sent by the 
Province so small as not sufficient to supply one-half of 
them with ammunition to kill tliemselves meat, viz., 

9 cask of powder £63"0s-0 

11 cwt. of lead @ 45s per cwt £24-15s-0 

15 pounds Vermillion @ 20s ; £15-0s-0 

20 dozen knives @ 12s £12-0s-0 

1,000 flints £i-10s-0 

6 lbs. brass wire (r? 5s £l-10s-0 

1 cwt, tobacco £l-5s-0 

Carriage of these goods from Philadelphia to my place and from 

there to the Ohio £50-0s-0 

Total £224-5s-0 

In schools where teachers find it impossible to work up the fur 
trade so as to present it in a strong and interesting way, selections 
from McMurry's ''Pioneer History Stories of the Mississippi Val- 
ley" may be used instead. It is a pity, however, to omit a subject 
so rich in ,both its content and relations as the old Indian fur trade. 
Unfortunately, no one has written just the account of it that primary 
teachers need. 

Encourage the pupils to play "keeping store" at a trading post. 

LITERATURE 

Follow up the study of the ocean in December with a good 
story of the sea, or use the story first. The work in geography 
upon the ocean does not take much time, and will be learned much 
more quickly by children in connection with a good sea story. 
Precisely the right kind of a story has not been written, but it is a 



JANUARY LITERATURE 153 

pleasure for the teacher to continue to look for it. My own choice 
is Rudyard KipUng's "Captains Courageous," but it is by no 
means ideal. The language is open to criticism, the sermon is too 
apparent, and the story is too long. But it is graphic and strong 
and alive. There is action from beginning to end. 

If this storv is selected, it mav as well end when the fishing; boat 
reaches Gloucester. The remainder is not written in a style to be 
understood by children. The story should be cut considerably in 
various places, and some episodes may well be omitted. The 
characterization of some of the crew should be omitted, and when 
all is done it is not just the story we should like for the fourth grade. 

A book which may be used instead is Kirk Munroe's "Dory- 
mates." This story cannot be called classic literature, but it is a 
fine, healthy tale of seafaring life, and is extremely popular with 
children. It has more adventure and is less of a character study 
than Kipling's book. Some of it can be hurried over. It should 
be treated merely as a story. It is not worthy of the careful study 
that "Hiawatha" or "Miles Standish" should receive. A third 
book, which is admirable from the moral view-point, and which 
contains a great deal of interesting information, is "All Among the 
Lighthouses," by Mary Bradford Crowninshield. This book is 
still less classic literature than the others, but it is well worth read- 
ing. There is a delightful and natural little girl on board the Gold- 
enrod, which makes the story a good one for use in mixed schools. 
Some of the chapters may be omitted without spoiling the thread 
of the story. 

Among the best of the older books are Cooper's. They are gen- 
uine literature, but they are not well adapted to the fourth grade. 
They require so much cutting and explaining, that it seems better 
to leave them until the pupils are old enough to read them entire and 
enjoy them. However, any teacher who will take the time can 
select from one of the volumes a fairly well connected story which 
may be used to advantage. 



154 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Cooper*s sea stories are: 

"The Pilot," "Afloat and Ashore," 

"The Water Witch," "Red Rover," 

"The Sea Lions," "Homeward Bound, Vol. 1." 

Some other good books are: 

"Two Years Before the Mast," R. H. Dana, Jr. 
"The Voyage of the Sunbeam," Lady Anne Brassey. 
• The limits of this book do not permit the giving of any critical 
estimate of these works. The teacher should select a story that 
she likes herself and see that the class gets as clear a comprehension 
of it as possible. She will find her interest and enthusiasm con- 
tagious. 

The observation of winter birds suggested for winter nature 
study may be profitably followed up by reading from "Hard Fare.' 
It is found in "Signs and Seasons," by Burroughs. The children 
can understand all of it except a few of the long words. 

ARITHMETIC 

The new process is subtraction of fractions, but if the hand 
work advised under Arts has been done to any extent, this process 
in its simple forms has already been taught. 

Drill work in all the processes known should be given frequently. 

If the attempt to stimulate interest in home cooking has been 
successful, there should gradually accumulate a stock of material 
for problems with which the child has had experience and which 
gives excellent opportunity for work in fractions. 

It is well to give the pupils a few rules, and urge them to try them 
at home. There is an especial interest in experimenting at home 
with suggestions received at school. 

The following rules are contributed by Miss Alice Treganza, 
head of the domestic science department of the training scTiool in 
California, Pa. The writer has tasted every one of these dishes as 



JANUARY ARITHMETIC 



155 



prepared by the children, and can vouch for the correctness of the 
rules. 

In the rules printed below, c. stands for cup, thsj). for tablespoon- 
ful, tsj). for teaspoonful, and s. sp. for salt spoon. 



COCOA 



1^ tbsp. 


cocoa. 


1^ tbsp. 


cocoa. 


3 tbsp. 


cocoa 


2 


sugar. 


2 


sugar. 


2 


sugar, 


2 c. 


water. 


1 c. 


water. 


1 c. 


water 


2 c. 


milk. 


3 c. 


milk. 


3 c. 


milk 


i s. sp. 


salt. 


J s. sp. 


salt. 


5 s. sp. 


salt 



Measure the cocoa and sugar, and mix them in the saucepan, add the 
water, and heat. Boil one minute, and add the hot milk and salt. 
Beating the cocoa with an egg beater will prevent a scum from forming. 

It is a good plan to teach the making of cocoa, as it affords an 
excuse for advising the children against drinking coffee. 

CANNED APPLES 

Clean, quarter, core and pare apples, then weigh them. Make a syrup 
by boiling for ten minutes one-third their weight in sugar with water, 
allowing two and one-half cups of water to each pound of sugar. 

Cook apples in syri p until soft, doing a few at a time. Fill sterilized 
jars with fruit and add enough syrup to overflow jars. If there is not 
enough syrup, add boiling water, as jars must be filled to overflow. 
Place a spoon between fruit and jars so that air bubbles may come to the 
top and break. Then quickly put on rubbers that have been dipped 
in hot water and screw on sterilized covers. Let stand until cold, and 
again screw covers, being sure this time that jars are air-tight. While 
filling jars place them on a cloth wrung out of hot water. 



It is true that the apple canning season may seem to be in the 
fall, but people often find a quantity of apples on hand which show 
signs of not keeping well. These may be canned and saved for 
summer use 



156 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

POTATO SOUP 

3. potatoes. 1| teaspoonfuls salt. 

1 quart milk. 4 teaspoonfuls celery salt. 

2 slices onion. | teaspoonful pepper. 

3 teaspoonfuls butter. 1 teaspoonful chopped parsley. 
2 tablespoonfuls flour. 

If parsley cannot be had for this particular soup, twice the quantity 
of finely chopped cabbage may be used. This soup may be made more 
cheaply and still be very good, by using half water. 

Potato soup is given because it is simple, and because it is well 
to emphasize simple soups. The monotony of the bill of fare of 
the poor is due to lack of skill quite as much as to lack of money. 

WHITE SAUCE 
2 tablespoonfuls butter. 1 cup milk. 

2 tablespoonfuls flour. J teaspoonful salt. 

Put butter into saucepan and stir until melted and bubbling; add 
flour mixed with seasonings, stir until smooth. Pour on the milk grad- 
ually, adding a little at a time, stirring until well mixed. Beat until 
smooth and glossy. 

The white sauce is given because it is quite within the reach of the 
children. The difficulties, as the writer well knows from childish 
experience, are patience in stirring the mixture smooth, and care 
in not letting it boil over. Brown sauce or gravy is made in the 
same way, by browning the butter and flour. Meat gravy may be 
used instead of butter. A very good sauce may be made by using 
half water and a little more butter, and browning it well. 

VINEGAR CANDY 

2 cups sugar. 

2 tablespoonfuls butter. 

2 cup vinegar. 
Put butter into saucepan; when melted, add sugar and vinegar. 
Stir until sugar is dissolved, afterward occasionally. Boil mixture until 
it will become brittle when tried in cold water. Turn on a buttered 
platter to cool. Pull and cut the same as molasses candy. 



JANUARY — ARITHMETIC 157 

BUTTER TAFFY 

2 cups light brown sugar. | tablespoonful vinegar 

1 cup molasses. 1| cup butter. 

1^ teaspconful salt. 2 teaspoonfuls vanilla. 

2 tablespoonfuls water. 

Boil first five ingredients until, when tried in cold water, mixture 
will become brittle. When nearly done, add butter, and just before 
turning out into pan, vanilla. Cool and mark in squares. 

Candy needs no recommendation to children. It would be well 
to give these candy rules before Christmas, in order that the children 
might have the pleasure of giving away candy of their own manu- 
facture. 

It is unnecessary to point out the arithmetic that can be worked 
out in these rules, by taking one-half, one-fourth, one-eighth, and 
by multiplying by four, by six, by the number of pupils in tjie school, 
etc. 

Arithmetic is needed in this month in connection with the weav- 
ing. A little experience will enable the children to know how 
much to allow for the ''take up" in weaving. That is, if the warp 
is strung tight, a piece of filling of any kind nine inches long will 
not reach across a rug nine inches wide, because it must go under 
and over the warp strings. A great variety of problems grow out 
of the different materials used in weaving. Colored designs should 
be drawn, and the quantity of material calculated. 

Make problems from the January History. Use the bill for goods 
which a fur trader took from his own store and added to a present 
sent by the governor of Pennsylvania to the Indians at Logstown. 
For convenience the value of the English pound might be fixed at 
five dollars. 

1. How much did the men earn each month in our money? Com- 

pare with wages to-day. 

2. How much did the wampum cost by the hundred? 



158 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

3. If there were 1,500 Indians, and all shared alike, how much lead 

could each one have? (Answer, l\^ oz.) Compare the \^ 
with \ |. Use every opportunity to compare fractions of 
this kind in which the children are interested. Use lines 
strips of paper and other concrete illustrations. Try to get 
some old man to show the children how bullets were made by 
hand. 

4. Assuming that it is 400 miles from Philadelphia to Logstown, 

what did it cost per mile to carry the present? 

5. What did it cost per mile to carry what Croghan added to the 

present? 

LANGUAGE 
TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

**The Hudson Bay Fur Company.' 
**The Old Carrying Places." 

(See Geography for January.) 
"How Glass Is Made." 

One of the best ways to lead children from the thoughts of the 
Christmas holidays to the work of school is to let them write a full 
letter descriptive of their vacation, as a language exercise. Insist 
that the letters be well written. 

Make notes from Gist's Journal. 

For oral reproduction work use the stories of the ocean given va 
Literature, and the topics taught in the Geography and History. 

For dictation, copying, and memorizing, use Jean Ingelow s 
beautiful poem, ''The High Tide on the Coast of Lincolnshire." 

Continue spelling and drill on the correct pronunciation of words, 
and on correct forms of speech. 

Keep a school diary for this month. It will introduce variety 
into the language work. 



160 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

READING 
Read stories of the sea, and of hunting, trapping, and canoeing. 
Read, also, of the arctic regions, of avalanches and glaciers, and 
of winter sports. 

Read extracts from "Snow-bound." Use them for dictation work. 
Encourage individual selections more and more. 
Help the children to express a dramatic situation in a story by 
pantomime. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY 

Pictures of the sea. There is a series of eight by Haquette, all 
fine, strong scenes. 

*' Taking a Pilot," Seeley. 
"The Wave," James. 
"Evening in a Harbor," McCord. 
"A Helping Hand," Renouf. 

Sympathy with animals should be stimulated by adding occa- 
sionally a suggestive picture. Three good ones are: 

"Three Members of the Temperance Society," Herring. (Three 

Horses.) 
"The Bath," Bridgman. 
"A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society," Landseer. 

SONGS 

"Silently Falling Snow," Pennsylvania School Song Collection. 
"Dip, boys, dip the oar, 
Bid farewell to the dusky shore," etc. 

THE ARTS 

I. HAND WORK 

Foremost in handicraft should be a continuation of sewing, 
which is emphasized in the outline for December. The work 
planned there should go on through this month. More clothes 



JANUARY — THE ARTS 



161 



for dolls may be made, and more furnishings for the pioneer house 
and the doll-house. Tiny sheets, pillow cases, and comfortables 
may be made for the bed, or crib, or cradle that the house is 
furnished with. Table-cloths, nap- 
kins, and scarfs for stands, dressing 
table, etc., may be added. 

Various tools and utensils of the 
pioneer period may be made, such as 
a flail, a wooden rake, a wooden 
shovel, and ax handles. Some ingen- 
ious boy should make two or three 
kinds of traps. Boats with oars', or 
a sail boat, and a canoe may be made; 
a pack-saddle, snow-shoes, and moc- 
casins are suggested by the history 
for the month, a mortar and pestle for 
pounding corn may be made, and an 
old-fashioned wellsweep added to the 
pioneer equipment. 

Procure a horn from a butcher, 
consult some elderly person in the 
community as to how it may be 
cleansed and scraped thin. Add it 
to the store of pioneer articles. The 
preparation of hulled corn and of 
pemmican, furnishes interesting ex- 
periments in connection with the 
northern fur trade. 

The study of the ocean in Decem- 
ber may be kept in mind by dressing 
dolls in sailors' suits. Fishing nets 
and harpoons and anchors may be 
niade. pioneer's broom 




162 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Model a map of Pennsylvania in paper pulp, and locate the 
three principal fur traders' routes. Let pupils put tiny figures of 
horses and men along these trails. For routes, see map. 

WEAVING 

If the pupils have not had considerable practice in weaving in 
the lower grades, it is well worth while to introduce a little hand 
weaving in this year. If the teacher is not familiar with the work, 
she should get one of the excellent new books on the subject. 
**Handloom Weaving," by Mattie Phipps Todd, is very helpful. 

II. DRAWING 

Draw and color patterns for weaving. Draw patterns of the 
various articles to be made. Make maps of the St. Lawrence and 
Hudson Bay region. Make careful maps showing the portages 
studied. Draw winter trees. 

III. COLOR WORK 

Dye materials for weaving. There is a certain pleasure in 
coloring things that should come at least once to every child. It 
is a pity that so little of it is now done in the homes. It would 
better be done after school some day when there is time. It is a 
good plan to invite one of the mothers to come in and assist with 
this work. This will help to guard against accidents. No experi- 
ment needing a lighted lamp should ever be undertaken if there is 
any doubt about the discipline of the school. The alcohol lamp of 
a chafing dish may be used, and the dyeing done in a granite kettle. 

Use the butternut and walnut bark and shells, as directed in 
October. They must be steeped much longer now, and the colors 
will be darker, with no hint of green in them. Buy a little madder 
and cochineal at a drug store, and dye red. There are always 
elderly people in every neighborhood who can give explicit direc- 



JANUARY — THE ARTS 



163 



tions for this work. Let the children see clearly how much trouble 
it used to be to get good coloring. 

Finally, try a few aniline dyes. Excellent directions are given 
in Chapter VI of Miss Todd's book on weaving. 

IV. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

Make sketches of boats suggested by the literature of the ocean. 
Draw the bark-covered house of Burroughs on a mountain-side, 
and add scenes from his ''Hard Fare." 








NATURE STUDY 



f^ 



Bv THIS time the pupils have 
grown so accustomed to watching the 
window garden that nothing further 
need be said about it. If the cold- 
frame has been successful, there have 
been some blossoms, and the 
February sun will bring out 
more if there are many warm 
days. If it has been a failure, 
it still has its lesson. A visit 
to a florist will probably explain d^^a?' 
the cause of the failure. 
Keep a careful weather record and compare it with 
that of January in respect to temperature, snow, 
winds, and fair and cloudy days. 

Experiment to show that water expands in freezing. 




164 



FEBRUARY NATURE STUDY 165 

Try it in tin cans, to show how the water causes the tin to bulge 
if the top freezes first. Freeze some water in bottles. Use a shal- 
low and very flaring dish, to show how the ice will push up. 

Of what use is ice? What harm does it do? In the geography 
class teach glaciers. 

Make a study of winds. How are they caused? Experiment 
with drafts. Explain that winds are simply drafts of air on a 
large scale with the sun as the source of heat. Which winds bring 
thunder showers? From what direction do the clouds come during 
a long rain? What is meant by the wind's shifting? Does it ever 
rain into north windows? From what direction does the wind 
come on most clear days? What good does the wind do? What 
harm? Will a field dry out more quickly when the wind blows or 
when there is no wind? Which kind of wind dries up the roads 
first? On what kind of days does a farmer sow grass seed? 
Why? Must he use as much care if he sows corn? Why? Recur 
to these farm questions again in April. 

Tell of hurricanes and waterspouts. 

Watch for and record thaws, returning birds, changes in buds, 
sap, and any brightening of lawn grass. North of forty-two degrees 
and in the mountains north of forty degrees, roughly speaking, this 
work should be deferred until March. The buds and twigs should 
be examined at least once a week. 

Plant seeds for transplanting, using the earth procured in the^ 
fall. 

GEOGRAPHY 

The next important division of the subject of geography is the 
Rocky Mountain region and the Pacific Coast. Two, or, better, 
three months should be given to this. 

A good plan in presenting the mountain and coast region, is to 
cross the continental divide in four places. First, ascend the 




A WINDOW GARDEN 



FEBRUARY — GEOGRAPHY 167 

Missouri River with the Lewis and Clark expedition. This expe- 
dition was made almost entirely for geographical purposes, and 
the teaching of it gives children far more of geography than of 
history. At the same time, the story has that strong human interest 
which makes the facts of river and plain, caiion and falls, mountain 
and pass, stay permanently in mind. 

In teaching this expedition, model a relief map of North America; 
use a printed map, pictures, and one or more of the good accounts 
now available of the journey. 

Now that there is an interest started, take up the Rocky Moun- 
tain plateau as a whole, teaching such features as are simple enough 
for the children to understand, and striking enough to fix their 
attention. Use the relief map of North America. Locate the 
Rocky Mountains. Try to give some idea of their extent from 
north to south, their breadth, the height of some of the peaks, the 
canons, mesas, passes and other characteristic features. Give 
especial attention to the portion of the mountains within the United 
States. 

Make an especial study of the Yellowstone National Park. 
Children are entitled to the pleasure that comes from a study of 
these great scenographic features. 

Having given some general ideas of the mountains, plan to cross 
them by a southern route, using the following topics: 

1. Zebulon Pike's expedition. Trade over the old Santa Fe trail. 

2. Pike's Peak. Get the best account possible, and make every 

effort to give the pupils a clear idea of the trip to the summit. 

3. The Rio Grande. Locate and describe the river briefly, and 

tell of the early Spanish occupation. 

4. A sheep ranch in Texas or New Mexico. 

5. The cliff dwellers. They have been studied in the second grade. 

It is meant here merely to locate them. 

6. The Grand Canon of the Colorado. 



168 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

7. New Mexico and Arizona. Describe their arid regions, and 
continue the journey to Los Angeles on the coast. 

At this time, or sooner, use maps with the states plainly marked. 
Teach in a simple way what a state is. Use the names of states 
freely, and require the children to do so in locating natural features. 
Presently the names and locations of most of the states will have 
been learned, just as we learn the names of people about us, without 
any systematic lessons for that purpose. 

In connection with the calendar of harvests, select a few of the 
best-known articles for comment, as is advised for other months. 
Watch for reports of the making of maple sugar. There is no better 
indicator of the progress of the season, and the variation- of climate. 
Correspond with California children as to the flowers they may 
raise out of doors in February. 

HISTORY 

THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION 

Tell the children that many years ago almost nothing was 
known of the great Missouri River except its lower course, and 
that nothing at all was kno^vn of the Rocky Mountains in the 
northern part of the United States. The mouth of the Columbia 
River had been discovered. President Jefferson believed that it 
would be possible to ascend the Missouri to where its head waters 
might interlace with those of the Columbia, and then go down that 
river to the Pacific. Accordingly he asked Congress to set aside 
money for such an expedition, and he selected two men, named 
Lewis and Clark, as leaders 

Lesson Topics 
L The Objects of the Trip. 

a. To learn more of the Missouri River — its location, the cause 
of its muddy appearance, its length, its branches, how far navigable, 
its falls, if any, and any other interesting facts 



FEBRUARY — HISTORY 169 

b. Lewis and Clark were to try to establish friendly relations with 
the Indians — to learn of the different tribes, their number, what 
land they claimed, their ''language, traditions and monuments, 
their occupations, implements, food, clothing and domestic accom- 
modations; their diseases and methods of cure; their physical, 
social, moral and religious peculiarities and customs; their ideas 
and practice of commerce," and the possibilities of civilizing them. 
Particular attention was to be giv6n to the apparent effects of the 
influence of white traders among them. 

2. Preparation. 

Having made clear to the children the objects of the expedition, 
much of the preparation for it can be developed, which will review 
all the children know of the needs of exploring parties. The dis- 
cussion should bring out the fact that the men who made up the 
party would have to act as ''soldiers, sailors, explorers, geographers, 
ethnologists, botanists, geologists, missionaries, financiers, and 
historians; also as cooks, tailors, shoemakers, hunters, trappers, 
fishermen, scouts, woodcutters, boat-builders, carpenters, priests 
and doctors." 

Work out with the children that such a party would need to take 
mathematical instruments, arms and ammunition, camping outfits, 
medicine, presents for the Indians,^ provisions, materials for making 
up the various articles into portable packs, means of transporta- 
tion, and money to pay hunters, guides and interpreters. 

Describe the boat, the make-up of the party, and the stay near 
St. Louis during the winter of 1803-"04. 

At least two lesson periods will be needed for the story thus far. 

3. The Missouri. 

For the third lesson, read, with explanatory comment, Lighton's 
account of the trip up the Missouri to the Sioux country. 

4. Meeting the Sioux. 

Continue the journey to the village of the Maudans. 

5. The Winter at the Maudan Village. 



170 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

The fort. The peace treaty. The Bird woman. Occupations. 
Preparing to go on. 

6. To the Falls of the Missouri. 

The grizzly bear. The cotton wood skiffs. Discovery of the 
Rocky Mountains. The great falls. 

7. The Portage around the Falls. 

The continental divide. The head of the Missouri. 

8. Indians Again. 

The Bird woman finds her kindred. Hardships. Eating their 
horses. The Nez Perces. 

9. Down the Columbia. 

The Pacific. The coast Indians. 

10. The Winter. 

Lodgings, food, occupations, sickness, suffering, plans. 

11. Return Journey to the Mountains. 

12. Recrossing the Divide. 

13. Exploring the Yellowstone. 

14. Descent of the Missouri. 

The meeting with the Bird woman gives a dramatic scene which 
may be acted. 

Continue Gist's Journal. 

LITERATURE 

Two widely different authors. Burroughs and Irving, furnish 
the literature for this month. The selections are rather short, but 
the geography work requires a great deal of reading. 

At the beginning of the month read "Winter Neighbors," by 
Burroughs. Do not read too much at a time, nor when the children 
are tired or restless. But some quiet winter day when a deep snow 
has fallen, and the first excitement over it has worn off, tell the chil- 
dren of the sturdy, sharp-eyed, kindly lover of nature who lives 
alone in his rude home up on the mountain-side, where he studies 
the birds, the trees, and the storms. 



FEBRUARY — LITERATURE 171 

If it is found impossible to arouse any interest in Burroughs's 
sketches, other selections may be substituted; but do not give up 
until extracts from ''The Snow-Walkers," "The Fox," and ''The 
Apple," have been tried in the most enthusiastic and sympathetic 
way. 

Questions on "The Snow-Walkers" 

Omit the first four pages. When the pupils are older they can 
look them up and enjoy them. Begin with, "The little red fox 
is the only species that abounds in my locality." 

Where does the gray fox prefer to live? 

What does Burroughs read in the snow after a fresh fall? 

Describe his letting a beautiful fox escape him. Tell how the 
fox keeps ahead of the dog. 

What does the author say of the tail of the fox? 

Tell the incident of the unsuccessful fox hunter. 

How does the old trapper manage? 

Describe the tracks and avenues of the white-footed or "deer- 
mouse." How does he live in winter? 

Give all the signs by which a hunter would know squirrels were 
near. 

Describe the raccoon as he appears in the spring. 

Continue the questions on the fox in the next sketch, if the 
interest will warrant doing so. 

Literature affords an ever-ready escape from the routine of school 
work. And when we are fortunate enough to find a classic that 
presents history, geography, and a striking moral lesson, so simply 
told as to be suited to fourth-grade classes, and strong enough to 
give one pleasure for years, it is a treasure trove. Such a story is 
Irving's "Early Experiences of Ralph Ringwood." W'ith a few 
omissions the entire story may be used. 

It contributes to geography some vivid ideas of the relation of 



172 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



Virginia to the country farther west, of the National Road, along 
which Ralph passed, of the Ohio River, the Green River, the 
location of Wheeling, Cincinnati, Louisville, etc., and of the Ken- 
tucky country in its primeval state. 




A CONESTOGA WAGON AND TAVERN 



It is much more valuable as a historic picture. It shows the tide 
of migration to Kentucky, the mode of travel, and the development 
of the country at that time. Better than that, it gives an excellent 
picture of a hunter's life. Since such types as Miller were not un- 
common at that stage of our history, they are necessary to round 
out pictures of pioneer life. There is no danger that the boys who 
read this story will be tempted to run away to become hunters, for 
in the first place there is no such game region to be found. What- 
ever the boys enjoy of this })rimitive instinct, they must enjoy largely 
through their imagination. In the second place, it must be noticed 
that Ralph did not run away, but went with the full knowledge of 
his father, who gave him money for the trip. 

The merrymaking of the pioneers is set out in Irving's inimitable 



FEBRUARY LITERATURE 173 

style. One can see the vigorous dancing and hear the scraping of 
the old fiddle. It is a fitting climax to the study in previous lessons 
of the laborious life of the pioneers. 

The story gives us an admirable character study, without any 
preaching. The struggle of the young woodsman to decide what 
to do is effectively told. The reader cannot but feel with the youth 
what a costly mistake he had made in leaving home and school. 
The interest in the hero is such, if the story has been well brought 
out, that everybody is naturally sorry with him. All in all, it is a 
good, healthy story. 

It might be divided as follows : 

1. Leaving home, ending with ''I'm determined to show I'm not 

the tail-end of the family." 

2. The journey: The story should be elaborated here, to show 

the National Pike with its trains of emigrants, its old stone 
taverns, its stages, etc. 

3. Ralph as a hunter: Compare the curing of meat with the way 

it is done to-day. 

4. The frolicking: Emphasize the dress and the early hours. 

5. Studying law: Show that Ralph must work much harder than if 

he had stayed at school. 

6. Winning his case: Make it clear all along that he succeeded 

because of his great resolution, and his persistency, rather than 
because he left home. 

ARITHMETIC 

The new subject for this month is decimals. Teach writing, 
reading, and using tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. Since 
we do not use the metric system, problems involving money lead 
to decimals most naturally. 

Treat United States money as decimals. Make out bills for 



174 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

the articles needed for the puddings and pies. Go to the grocery 
and learn the actual price of each ingredient. 

Copy simple menus for meals from any good book on cooking. 
Have pupils find the cost. 

Teach mills as used in taxes, and then show that a mill is one- 
thousandth of a dollar. Make problems using mills. 

Continue drill for rapidity. Require considerable formal anal- 
ysis of problems. 

Continue to make problems from rules for cooking. Recipes 
for plum pudding and mince pie give an interesting list of problems, 
which call for considerable work in fractions. 

ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING 

I lb. stale bread crumbs. 1 c. scalded milk. 

1 lb. sugar. 4 eggs. 

i lb. raisins, seeded, cut in J lb. currants. 

pieces and floured. I lb. finely chopped figs. 

2 oz. finely cut citron. i lb. suet. 

^ c. boiled cider. ^ grated nvitmeg. 

f teaepoonful climamon. J tcaspoonful cloves. 

^ teaspoonful mace. Ih tcaspoonful salt. 

Soak bread crumbs in milk, let stand until cool, add sugar, beaten 
yolks of eggs, raisins, currants, figs, and citron; chop suet, and cream 
by hand; combine mixtures, then add cider, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, 
mace, and whites of eggs beaten stiff. Turn into buttered mold, cover 
and steam six hours. 

MINCE PIE MEAT 

4 lb. lean beef. 3 lb. currants. 

2 lb. beef suet. J lb. finely cut citron. 
Baldwin apples. 1 tsp. cinnamon and mace. 

3 lb. sugar. 1 teaspoonful pepper. 
2 c. molasses. 1 tablespoonful cloves. 
2 quarts cider. 2 grated nutmegs. 

4 lb. raisins seeded and cut in pieces. Salt to taste. 



FEBRUARY ARITHMETIC 175 

Find the one-half of each of these rules. The one-fourth. One- 
eighth. Find the cost. 

In connection with the study of the winds, and hot and cold air, 
the question of air space for the children offers good material for 
problems. 

Find the cubical contents of the room. Divid? by the number 
of pupils. 

Plan icehouses of different dimensions, and make problems 
about the quantity of ice they will hold. 

Find how many blocks of ice six inches thick can be put into ice- 
houses of different dimensions. 

Vary the problems. 

Cut patterns for hats. ^Measure. Find the amount of material 
needed for one hat. Then find how many hats could be made of 
one yard of material of a certain width. Two yards, one-half 
yard, etc. 

Summarize the weather record. Find the average tempera- 
ture for each month. Compare February with January. 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

Sum up all that was learned of life on a farm in winter. 

Write a complete account of the effects of cold. (Complete from 
the standpoint of the child.) If the observation work on th:3 
subject was finished in January, then the language work shoi:!d 
follow at once. 

Lewis and Clark's expedition. 

Lighten the work by letting the children write a fairy story or r. : 
animal story, or both. 

Write letters to children in California. 

For oral reproduction use the selections from Burroughs, and 
the story of "Ralph Ringwood." 



176 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Continue the school diary and the notes upon Christopher Gist. 
Continue all the drills for correct form. 

Dictate problems, and expect the work of problem making to 
improve in a marked degree. 

MEMORY POEMS 

"Lucy Gray," Wordsworth. 

"In School-days," Whittier. 

"The Forsaken Merman," Matthew Arnold. 

READING 

Look for winter topics. Look, also, for articles upon the geog- 
raphy lessons. 

Good readers in the fourth grade can read McMurry's "Lewis 
and Clark's Expedition," in "Pioneer History Stories of the Rocky 
Mountains." They will like, also, to read his "Daniel Boone," 
ii "Pioneer History Stories of the Mississippi Valley." 

Continue to emphasize the dramatic work, and to allow the 
children to read selections not found in the readers. 



PICTURES FOR STUDY 

"A Mountain Country in Snow," Kampman. 
"Over Snowfields Waste and Pathless," Farquaharson. 
"Mountain Pasture," Phelan. (Strong sheep picture.) 
"St. Cecilia." 

SONGS 

"Blue Bells of Scotland." 
"The Little Brown Church." 
Both of the above are to be found in "The Chapel Hymnal." 











^^' 



PATTERNS FOR HATS 



178 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

THE ARTS 

I. CONSTRUCTION 

The sewing may be finished this month by some lessons in hat 
making, and by planning and doing much of the work in preparing 
costumes for a school play. 

Suggestions for Dolls' Hats 

1. Braid raffia, and sew it into shape. 

2. Wrap raffia in and out and around the wires of a frame. 
Ten-year-old boys can hardly be expected to make these frames. 
If they cannot be made by pupils of the upper grades, they must 
be bought, or this kind of hat omitted. 

3. Cover cardboard neatly wdth silk or velvet or other suitable 
material, and sew the top of the crown into a band; add a fold or 
piping or twist to hide the joining Sew the brim firmly to the 
crown. Let each pupil add such trimming as she likes. Instead 
of cardboard, buckram may be used, and bonnet wire added to the 
edge. (For pattern see p. 177.) 

4. Pretty hats for dolls are made by ripping up straws that have 
been cast aside, and sewing them into suitable sizes for dolls. The 
braid should be kept damp while it is being sewed. 

5. College caps are easily made by covering a square piece of 
cardboard, of proper size, then covering the band and attaching it. 

From some of the specimens of wood they gathered in November 
the boys may make troughs like those used in the gathering of sap. 
They may make the '^ spiles" or spouts of sumac, for driving into 
the tree. These may be piled outside of the pioneer house with 
the "back logs." 

A model sled also is a good piece of work for a boy to make. He 
needs no directions for this. 

Some boy might like to whittle out an ox yoke, also what was 
called a "shoulder yoke," sometimes used by men in gathering sap. 




^' 



s=^^ 




i, 1 ^V\ -^0^ H^V. — 



y<^^ 



180 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

If no models of river boats have been made yet, make the one 
Lewis and Clark took on their expedition. It has more interest 
than any other river boat. 

If thought best, all of the construction work might be made to 
illustrate the Lewis and Clark expedition and Pike's exploration. 
Or the two might be kept entirely separate. Lewis and Clark 
might be taught in the first week of the month, the literature in the 
second and third weeks, and the story of Pike last. Whatever is 
done, the w^ork should not be hurried, nor be jumbled together. 

II. MODELING AND DRAWING 

Model a map of North America with especial reference to the 
Rocky Mountains. 

Draw patterns for hats. Draw patterns for costumes in the 
play. Make a picture of Lewis and Clark's boat. Draw, also, 
plans for the sleds, yokes, and sap trough and "spiles." Draw 
a map of North America with especial attention to the Rocky 
Mountains and the' Pacific Coast. Locate the rivers studied. 

III. COLOR WORK 

Paint a February landscape, and twigs of various kinds. Dis- 
cuss color combinations for hats. Dye raffia, straw braids and 
material for rugs. 

In taking up dyeing again, teach the importance of the mordant. 
This might be done at first, only that the children are so impatient 
to see results that they will not give attention to it. At any rate, 
the writer when a child regarded this part of the process as one of 
her mothers notions, like rinsing the dishes, and drying colored 
clothes in the shade. It is a good plan to dye some of the articles 
without the mordant. If teachers prefer to do one kind of work 
for a longer time than is provided in these outlines, it would be 
just as well to finish the dyeing in October. 



FEBRUARY THE ARTS 



181 



IV. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

Ralph Ringwood ready to go to the frohc. 

His hunting lodge 

Make sketches suggested by Burroughs 's description of ice- 
cutting in '* A River View." 

From ''Winter Neighbors" sketch the gray rabbit, with the 
sweet apple, and the fox lurking near; also, the birds scolding 
the little red owl, the second owl rising out of the cavity in 
the tree, and the woodpecker rapping on the bark of Bur- 
roughs's house. 

Draw calendar for February. 




M'%i 




NATURE STUDY 

No DEFINITE dates can be assigned for any line oi nature study 
for March and April. Work that one season might be done by the 
middle of March, might have to be deferred until the middle of 
April another year. Conditions vary greatly in the same latitude 
at different altitudes. So the best that can be done here is to out- 
line work that might properly be done at some time during the 
two months, and expect the teacher to be governed by circumstances. 

I. THE SCHOOL GARDEN 

Plan the school garden. Discuss what will be needed. Try 
to get as many of the requisites beforehand as possible. They are 
as follows: 




^M^M 



182 



MARCH NATURE STUDY 183 

1. Good soil. Study what is meant by good soil. If no work at 

all in gardening has been done by the school, get the advice of 
some competent person about the soil, and do not expect to 
succeed with the plants in poor, hard soil. 

2. Tools — spade, hoe, rake. 

3. Seeds from a reliable dealer. Some should have been sown in 

boxes for transplanting. Others must be sown in the ground. 
Find out whether there are any hot beds in the vicinity. If 
there are, study them. Send committees of boys to observe 
and report. 

4. Material for shading young plants (old newspapers may be used) 

and supports for vines may be provided later. 

If possible, get a successful gardener to come to the school and 
give a talk on growing flowers. At another time have some one 
who knows how to raise vegetables well, come and talk about the 
kitchen garden. The advice such persons can give is worth 
much more than anything that can be printed here, because it is 
certain to be adapted to the soil and climate of the locality. More- 
over, the suggestions of specialists are likely to arouse more enthu- 
siasm in the children, a,nd the help obtained from such persons 
relieves the teacher of some responsibility. ^lany teachers hesitate 
to undertake this kind of work because of their own inexperience. 



II. THE MAKING OF MAPLE SUGAR 

Encourage the pupils to experiment for themselves, if there is 
any possible opportunity of doing so. If there is not, the process 
should be carefully described with the aid of maple sugar, maple 
syrup, and water made very slightly sweet with maple sugar. For 
the construction work children should make the spiles and a model 
of a trough such as was used by the pioneers. 



184 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

III. SIGNS OF SPRING 

Continue observation of the development of buds on trees, 
shrubs and perennial plants. The last-named will make consid- 
erable growth during this month south of 40 degrees. (Isotherms 
differ so from parallels, owing to altitude and other causes, and 
seasons vary so greatly, that no definite dates can be given for any 
particular stage of plant life.) 

Watch for and record the returning birds. What do they find 
to eat? If there is a storm of sleet, suggest that the children 
scatter food for the birds. A formal study of birds is left for the 
fifth year, but it will take many years of careful teaching to right 
the wrongs that have been done to the birds. 

IV. THE WEATHER RECORD 

The weather for this month should be studied from the stand- 
point of the farm and the school garden. The farmer watches 
eagerly for the frost to come out of the ground. Have the pupils 
learn by observation, as far as possible, how deep the ground has 
been frozen and how rapidly it is thawing. If a freeze comes, 
after the ground is thawed, again find how deep it has been frozen. 
Observe places where the ground has been heaved by the frost. 
Why is this? What has the frost done for the soil? 

The next weather interest for the farmer is the drying out of the 
soil so that it can be properly worked. The correct way to learn 
kinds of soil is not to memorize a list from a book, but to observe 
them with reference to work and crops. What happens if you stir 
up a heavy clay while it is wet? Which dries out first, the sandy soil 
or clay? Which will become hard and lumpy if worked while it 
is wet? Can plants grow well in hard, lumpy earth? Why not? 
Which fields may be plowed first, those that slope or those that are 
level? Whv? 



MARCH NATURE STUDY 185 

Finally, the farmer hopes for warm weather to warm the earth 
enough so that the seeds will sprout. Experiment by sowing some 
seeds at the north side of a building, and some in a sunny spot. 
Watch to see which germinate first. Be sure that this first study 
of weather conditions be carried on in connection with soil and 
plants the children are interested in, or at least that they have a 
chance to observe ; else it will be as fruitless as any other so-called 
nature study which merely talks about things. 

GEOGRAPHY 

If the work outlined for February is done in as much detail as 
it should be, it cannot be finished in one month. In that case con- 
tinue the topics into March. When they are finished, study life 
in southern California. 

1. Visit the orange groves. Learn how the trees are planted, 
budded and cared for, and how the fruit is gathered, packed, and 
shipped. Find out what other fruits may be grown. 

2. Compare the vegetable gardens with those at home. Com- 
pare the flower gardens also. 

3. Compare the houses with those at home as to protection against 
cold, heat, winds, rain and insects. During what months must 
they be heated? What clothes will a visitor need in February? 
Always appeal to> the imagination in some practical way. 

4. Teach irrigation. Explain the need of it. Tell how the 
water is stored, and explain the different plans for letting it flow 
over the land. Let the children debate the advantages and disad- 
vantages of irrigation as compared with depending on rain. 

5. Visit a California vineyard. All will have seen California 
grapes. Learn how they are grown and packed. 

6. Study the growing of English walnuts. This topic needs 
two lesson periods: one for the planting, the tree and its care; the 



186 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

other should inckule the gathering, curing, packing and shipping 
of the nuts. 

7. Teach the culture of olives in California, using at least two 
periods for this topic, as for walnuts. First give the production 
of the olives, and secondly, the preparation for market. 

8. Study a gold mine, and add an account of the discovery of 
gold in California. Tell of the finding of nuggets, of placer mining, 
of the use of the "pan," the "cradle," the "Tom," the sluice, 
hydraulic mining, and smelting. 

We are now ready for the third trip across the mountains, through 
what may be called the middle region of prairies and plains, foot- 
hills and mountains. 

Topics 

1. The big corn fields of the prairie. 

2. The great wheat fields. 

3. Tell how the early settlers lived in sod houses while they 
secured their claims. 

4. Visit a cattle ranch on the plains. 

5. Give a vivid description of the emigrant trains as they crossed 
the plains and mountains to the Oregon country, or to the gold 
fields of California. 

6. Give the story of Fremont's ascent of Fremont's Peak. It 
would be perhaps more logical to give Fremont's w^ork and the 
Oregon trail immediately after the exploration of the Missouri; 
but it is better for the children to go south after the first trip, and 
defer the study of Fremont for several weeks. The delay helps to 
impress the fact that a long period elapsed between the Lewis and 
Clark expedition, and Fremont's explorations. There is less 
likely to be confusion of ideas if the two are well separated. Tell 
the story of the pony express riders. A good account is found in 
the Century Magazine for October, 1898. 



MARCH — GEOGRAPHY 



187 



7. Follow with an account of the old stage-coach trip. 

8. Locate the Union Pacific Railroad, and develop, in a simple 
way, what kinds of freight it carries. 

9. Locate the main eastern range of the Rockies now with some 
care. Teach the great basin as it is where the Union Pacific 
crosses; tell of Great Salt Lake; climb and descend the Sierra 
Nevada range, and go down to the coast. 

If the teacher prefers to teach California as a whole, the order 
may easily be changed. In that case all the topics belonging to 




♦THE OREGON TRAIL 



the prairie might be given, then those of the plains, then the moun- 
tains and finally the coast. But, although the order given here 
may seem unusual, it has the effect of ''spreading out" the areas 
studied and gives large ideas. 

In connection with the calendar of harvests, the work in this 
month should bring out very clearly the fact that the seasons iu 
the southern hemisphere are just the reverse of what they are here. 

Inquire at the markets for California walnuts, oranges, olives 
and olive oil. Do not forget the maple sugar harvest. 



188 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

HISTORY 

WASHINGTON AT THE FRENCH FORTS 

I. Fort Presque Isle. 

Location, at Erie. Square stockade, for storehouse rather than 
for defense. 
H. Fort Le Bceuf. 

Square stockade. For storehouse at head of navigation. Teach 
the geography here carefully. 
ni. Fo7't Venango. 

Location. Merely a trading house, from which the owner, John 
Frazier, had been driven away. 
IV. Washingto7is Journey. (See map, p. 189.) 

1. His commission. Preparation. Journey to Cumberland. 

2. He completes his party at Cumberland. They cross the 

mountains. Arrive at Frazier' s (now the city of Braddock). 

3. They go to ''the fork." Washington's account of that place 

(i.e., what is now Pittsburg). Their arrival at Logstown. 

4. Washington's dealings with the Indians at Logstown. 

5. His journey to Fort Venango. His stay at that place. 

6. The journey continued to Fort Le Boeuf. The arrival. 

7. Washington's experiences with the French and Indians. 

8. His return to Frazier's, including the incident of his being 

shot at by an Indian, and his crossing the Allegheny River. 

9. The rest at Frazier's cabin. The visit to Queen Alliquipi at 

McKeesport, and the return home. 
If this work is well done, it is quite enough for the month. 

Suggestions 

1. Note that Washington must have already shown a remark- 
able character, since he was selected for this important work. 

2. Avoid giving the impression that W^ashington took the journey 
alone. 




Washington's journey — 1753 



190 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

3. Notice his lack of skill in dealing with the Indians at Logs- 
town. 

4. Emphasize the preparation he found the French had made 
to come down the Allegheny River and occupy "the fork." 

5. Let the pupils act the scenes at Fort Le Boeuf. 
G. Make frequent reference to the map. 

7. Let several pupils make believe they have taken this trip, and 
let them mve an account of it to the rest of -the class. 



&' 



LITERATURE 

The geography planned for February, JN'Iarch and April makes 
so much reading of travel and description necessary, that the 
classics selected are short, and one, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," 
is intended for recreation only. The outline offered is a very flex- 
ible one; much of Burroughs's work might be omitted, and other 
selections studied in their place. 

When the plan of a farm is being worked out, read from Bur- 
roughs's "Phases of Farm Life." The pupils w^ill not care for the 
beginning of this essay. Omit all, to where the author says, "When 
my grandfather and grandmother came into the country . . . they 
cut a road through the woods and brought all their worldly gear on 
a sled drawn by oxen." 

Do not hesitate to omit all paragraphs not suited to the children. 

The following are the best topics for this grade: 

1. The grandfather's house. 

2. The threshing. 

3. The "raising." The moving. 

4. Going to market. The haying. Compare with Adan's picture, 

"The Hay-Makers." 
Finish the essay, reading of the cows, sheep, maple sugar, and 
stone fences. 

In May, when studying the Atlantic slope in geography, read 



MARCH LITERATURE 191 

the paragraphs about the predominant industries in certain sec- 
tions of New York. The paragraphs about cattle and sheep 
might have been read in November. 

Children cannot be kept reading Burroughs very long, fine as 
his work is. They want more action and less reflection. 

A poem by one as sturdy as Burroughs, but who lived with 
people instead of with nature, is "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." 
Children greatly enjoy acting the scene in which the piper appears 
to the corporation. Any kind of long cloak, with a fur boa or 
collar of any sort, may be worn for the "Furry, civic robe of ease." 
This scene may be read several times, allowing different boys to 
appear as the piper. 

The piper may step into the cloak room, and the sounds made 
by the rats be represented by two or three boys who can be trusted 
not to overdo the noise. This scene may be rehearsed for the 
first time after school, so the amount of noise can be agreed upon. 
The piper may use a mouth organ. 

The ringing of the bells may be imitated by the whole school, say- 
ing, " Ding, dong," or " Bome ! home ! bidi, bome ! bidiman, bome." 

The scene from the sixth stanza may be played by the pupils 
walking and skipping about in the schoolroom. Only as many 
should follow the pied piper at one time as can huddle into the 
cloak room. Only those who can be trusted not to take advantage 
of this break in the usual routine, should be allowed to follow the 
piper. This should be tried after school, the first time, so that no 
other teacher may be disturbed by it. If it can be so managed 
that the children can put on slippers or light shoes, the effect is 
better. This makes a good exercise for a school entertainment, 
and the part of following the piper is a good school game to be played 
instead of having recess. 

Do not neglect to point out to the class that it was greed and 
dishonesty that caused the people to lose their children. 
■ The remainder of the month may be given to the reading of 



192 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

"Bird Enemies," by Burroughs. The pupils will understand and 
enjoy what he says of the jay and the owl. They will be interested 
in the various incidents given, and will listen eagerly to what this 
author has to say about snakes. It will be as well to omit his 
denunciation of egg collectors; not but that it is righteous, but for 
fear it might suggest to some boy that he imitate their example. 

If the suggestions for February were carried out, it is likely that 
the literature was not finished in that month, but has had to be 
carried over into March. It does not matter; nothing is gained 
by hurrying along from one story to another. The arrangement 
of the subjects by months is merely for convenience. 

If there is sufficient interest to justify it, begin "The Tragedies 
of the Nests," by Burroughs. Much depends upon the way this 
work is done. When beginning to read the tragedies, tell the pupils 
you will first read three important statements. Have these repro- 
duced. Teach the word "superstructure"; and let some one in 
the class read the incident of the phoebe bird. Find how many 
know this bird. Have it put on the list to be watched for. Read 
on, a few lines, and ask what other proof the author has that birds 
have the home instinct. What does he mean by "gauntlet of fire"? 
Read the comparison with the pioneers, and have the enemies all 
named. Read and have recited the comparison between the early 
settlers and the first nest builders. Encourage the pupils to use the 
word "harried." 

Spend some time on the placing of the nests. Work along 
through the essay a few paragraphs at a time. Notice what is said 
of the thrush's nest, and the bobolink's. When the reading is done, 
summarize by recalling all the birds named. See how many 
pupils can recall an incident about each one. In how many ways 
may the birds suffer? 

This work may run on into April. The purpose is to interest 
the children in birds, and to let them know how much a good 
observer can see. • 



MARCH ARITHMETIC 193 

ARITHMETIC 

Ideas of decimals — addition, subtraction, and the multiplying 
of decimals by whole numbers — were taught in the preceding 
month. More extended and more formal work may now be done. 

Continue formal analysis of problems. 

Continue the making of bills, using the daily family marketing 
as a basis. 

Make problems about the plans for flower beds, suggested under 
The Arts for this month. 

Problems 

1. How many pansy plants will be needed for a rectangular bed, 
4' X 2', if the plants are set 6 inches apart each way, and 3 inches 
from the edge? 

2. Same beds, plants 8 inches apart each way, and 4 inches from 
edge? 

3. Plan circular beds, using a tall plant for the center, a circle 
of shorter plants around it, and an outer circle of still shorter plants. 
Find the number of plants needed for a bed of a given diameter, 
with the plants a given distance apart. Let the children use 3| 
for pi. 

For example, plan a bed three feet in diameter. If a plant is 
placed in the center, and the next circle of eight plants are 9 inches 
from the center, how far apart will they be? (Answer, about 7 
inches. See fig., p. 194.) 

4. If sixteen plants are set in the outer circle 2 inches from the 
edge, how far apart will they be? (32 x 3.1416 - 16 = 6i nearly.) 

Vary the size and plan of this bed, and make more problems. 

5. Plan a flower garden for the southern side of a rear yard. 
Begin with a simple plan. Suggest a grass plot at one side of a 
three-foot walk. If the lot is 22 feet wide, and 24 feet long, a 
flower space 8 feet wide will give room for a great many flowers. 



194 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



Six feet may be taken off the end for an arbor. Tall plants such 
as golden glow, or hollyhocks, may be placed next the fence. 

Smaller plants may be placed at the foot of these, so that a space 
of 3 feet on three sides of the plot will be occupied. Make a walk 
2 feet wide inside of this, leaving a rectangle 3 feet by 8 feet, which 
may be planted in any desired way. 

The finding of how many plants will be needed in any of these 
spaces affords good arithmetic material. 




uoet 



Children should notice tastefully planned back yards, and dis- 
cuss what makes a good yard. Have the pupils make various 
plans, changing the place of the walk, putting beds at both sides, 
adding an arbor or any feature they like. 

The geography of this month needs arithmetic in order to make 
it definite. The yield of the orange, walnut, and olive trees of 
California, the areas they occupy, the time it takes to bring the 
products here, are matters of arithmetic. 



y 1 uj (i v" ^ e c\ 



• • 



• * • 










•Ga>.ir? 






196 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

The possibilities stored up in a single seed make valuable arith- 
metic. If a plant from a single pansy seed produces ten blossoms, 
and each blossom ripens five perfect seeds, and each of these seeds 
does equally well next year, how many blossoms would there be 
next year? How many seeds? How many blossoms might there 
be the third year at the same rate? How many seeds? Change 
the conditions, and give more problems. Use bushels in the same 
way. If one bushel of oats produces ten bushels, and the ten 
bushels are all sowed and produced in the same way, and if all the 
second year crop is sowed, what would be the yield at the end of 
three years? Vary these problems. 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

"Washington's Journey to the French Forts." 

**A Visit to California." 

"A Day on a Ranch." 

"How Irrigation is Carried On." 

Write extracts from Gist's Journal. 

By this time the children should have acquired considerable 
facility in taking notes from oral work given by the teacher. These 
should sometimes be enlarged and carefully copied, but this w^ork 
should not become burdensome. 

The children should make steady progress in illustrating their 
written work. The lesson on irrigation gives a good opportunity 
for this kind of work. 

The drill for form must not be neglected. In correcting mis- 
takes of gram^mar the teacher should guard against making the 
children self-conscious and afraid to talk for fear of making a 
mistake. 



MARCH — LANGUAGE 197 

READING 

Have the classes read "The Pied Piper of HameHn." Search 
the readers for Uterature about spring, Washington, and the geog- 
raphy topics. 

The children should read, also, ''Pacific History Stories," by 
Herr Wagner. 

Require a good deal of silent reading, to be reproduced. This 
lays the foundation for book study in the next grade. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY 

When reading Burroughs's ''Phases of Farm Life," and in con- 
nection with the study of farm work, use Dupre's "Haymaker's 
Rest," "Pitching Hay," and the "Hay Harvest," or "The Hay- 
maker," by Adan, and "The Hay Harvest," by Bastien-Lepage. 
It would be more appropriate to study these pictures in summer, 
when haying is going on; but since the schools are not in session 
then, this subject may as well be taken up in early spring. 

Contrast the pictures with the scenes described by Burroughs. 

Study "The Song of the Lark," by Breton. 

Study, "Easter Morning," by Plockhorst. 

SONG 
" Daffy-Down-Dilly Came Up in the Cold." 

THE ARTS 

I. CONSTRUCTION 

If the spring is rather late, the sewing and weaving, and the 
making of models of various kinds may go on. 

An interesting employment quite within the ability of fourth- 
grade girls, is the bead work which has become so popular. It 
offers some good arithmetic material, but not a great variety. 



198 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Designs may be found in many of the publications devoted to fancy 
work. 

An interesting piece of work is a model of the big canvas-covered 
wagons or prairie schooners, such as were used by the emigrants 
on the National Pike, and later in crossing the prairie. 

But as warm weather comes on, tools, and needles and thread are 
laid aside more and more, as interest deepens in the old but ever 
new miracle of returning life out of doors. 

School life should follow real life; it should be real life; and 
with the approach of spring preparations for out-door life should 
begin. The reading about birds and about making maple sugar, 
the finding it in the market, the gradual change of temperature, the 
arrival of the birds, and the swelling of the buds, all lead the way to 
the next dominating interests, which are the garden and the farm. 

Plans for gardening should be made even though there cannot be 
a school garden during the current year. Sometimes the con- 
tinued agitation of a subject brings the desired result. American 
children get pretty nearly what they want. 

In the case of pupils who have grounds about their homes, some 
of these plans might be carried out. The writer remembers with 
pleasure and gratitude that her father let her help plan the garden 
beds more than once. 

The plans may be made on paper, or on the sand table, or both. 
They should in all cases be drawn to a scale, and may include: 

1. A vegetable garden. ^ 

2. A flower garden. 

3. A flower bed. 

4. An orchard with several sorts of trees. 

5. Plan for a back yard. 

6. Plan for a yard at the side of the house. 

7. Plan for a front yard. 

8. Plan for parks. 



MARCH THE ARTS 199 

The pupils should be advised to read or examine the catalogues 
of florists and seedsmen, to look over the pages of magazines and 
papers that give any space to such subjects, and to notice the most 
beautiful places about their town. 

It is to be expected that the plans made will be crude, and ill-pro- 
portioned ; but the work is worth doing, for it stimulates interest in 
the right direction, and helps the child to form ideals that may be 
realized in after years. If a boy plans a beautiful park, he may 
later, as a citizen, vote to have one. If a girl pictures an ideal back 
yard, she can do much in the direction of having one. Year by 
year these plans will grow better, but children of ten are not too 
young to begin them. 

II. MODELING 

The sand table is needed frequently now to aid in the geography 
work. Irrigation should be explained by a model, and the canons, 
peaks, and passes of the Rocky Mountains are best taught in this way. 

Model an ideal farm. Locate it so that it contains level land 
along a river, and some land sloping up a hillside. Discuss what 
shall be planted in the various fields. 

Model the various flower beds and gardens suggested above. 

III. DRAWING AND COLOR WORK 

Since but few of the pupils can be accommodated at the sand 
table, the others should draw the garden plans on paper to a scale. 

Make a chart in color of the harvests of the world. Paint trees, 
spring flowers, spring landscapes, and the prospective flower beds. 

IV. ILLUSTRATIVE DRAWING 

Let the children illustrate scenes from "The Pied Piper of Ham- 
elin," the council, the piper and the rats, the piper and the children. 

Have them picture scenes from "Bird Enemies," and from "The 
Tragedies of the Nests." 




NATURE STUDY 

I. WORK WITH PLANTS 

If there is a school garden, have the pupils work in it at such 
times as the season will permit. Transplant the plants raised in 
boxes in the schoolroom, sow such seeds as should be sown out of 
doors, plant the grape-vine cuttings, and try raising trees from 
seeds. For directions for starting trees see Hodge's ''Nature Study 
and Life," Chapter XL The garden will supply plenty of topics 
to talk about, but the main thing is working and observing, not 
talking. If the school garden is wholly impracticable, try to have 
the children take to their homes the plants that have been raised in 
the schoolroom for transplanting, and set them out in the ground. 
If they cannot do this, let them put the plants into pots. 

11. THE FARM 

What kinds of work are done on a farm in the spring? Which 
must be done first? 









200 



APRIL NATURE STUDY 201 

How is corn planted? How are oats sowed? 

Is a potato a seed? Is it a root? Plant a few potatoes at the 
school, and examine them occasionally. 

What will happen if you plant a turnip? 

How do people get lettuce seed? Radish seed? 

What are onion sets? Plant some. Sow some onion seed, and 
compare the growth of the two. 

What plants or vegetables are ready for use first in the spring 
without the aid of hot-bed or cold-frame? Horse radish, and 
rhubarb, or pie plant, in our gardens; water cress and pepper root 
in the woods; also dandelion leaves and cowslips, which are some- 
times boiled and used as a salad, and commonly called "greens." 

III. THE WEATHER RECORD 

The weather should be compared carefully with the weather for 
March. It should be studied with the same end in view; that is, 
to see how vegetation, and consequently the work of the farmer, 
are affected by it. 

Sum up all the children know about frost. Teach that the fruit- 
grower does not want warm weather to come too fast. W^hy? Bring 
out the fact that the farmer and the market gardener dread late frosts 
quite as much as they desire warm weather- with just enough rain. 

Watch for late frosts. Compare the date, by correspondence, 
with various regions studied. Did the pioneers of western Pennsyl- 
vania find any difference in regard to frost if they came from Vir- 
;.:inia? From eastern Pennsylvania? From Connecticut? 

Teach how the Florida fruit-growers protect their trees from frost. 

IV. A TRIP TO THE WOODS 

Do not go too early. Wait until blood-root and hepatica are 
in blossom. Notice the kind of soil they grow in. Do the leaf 
stems come from the ground, or do they branch out from stalks? 
Do not pick all of the flowers. Leave some to scatter seeds for next 
year. Do not tear them up by the roots. 



202 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Look especially for seedling trees. Very likely beech nuts and 
acorns may be found sprouting, provided, of course, these trees are 
found during the walk. 

Note the conditions. Decide whether you could find your way 
in the woods on a cloudy day by looking at the bark of trees. Note 
all the leaves that seem to have withstood the winter — evergreen 
trees, winter green, laurel, partridge berry, ground pine, certain 
ferns, mosses; all the ''greens," in short. 

Where it is impracticable to take the school to the woods, some- 
times a group of boys can go, and report on their return. In other 
cases parents who believe in the importance of this work will take 
their children out on Saturday. In some instances one or two 
from the fourth grade might go with older pupils who need to make 
the trip for their study of botany. 

V. ARBOR DAY 

Observe Arbor Day with enthusiasm. There is a great civic 
lesson here. He who helps to plant trees which others may enjoy, 
is displaying the same spirit as he who helps to found or preserve 
a government for future generations. 

Make every effort to have every pupil try to grow a tree, or to 
have some ownership in one that is transplanted. 

GEOGRAPHY 

I. THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS AND COAST 

Compare San Francisco in its characteristic features with th:' 
town or city best known to the children. 

Visit the Big Trees. 

Describe the trip to the Yosemite Valley, and the valley itself. 

Study northern California, and compare in climate and produc- 
tions with the southern })art of the state. The purpose of visiting 



APRIL GEOGRAPHY 203 

California twice in this way is to emphasize its great length, and 
to try to prevent the children from thinking of it as a small place 
with only its southern characteristics. 

Locate the Oregon trail. Read extracts from "The Oregon 
Trail," by Francis Parkman. Send to the general office of the 
''Great Northern Railway," and ask for a folder. Compare the 
routes with the trails followed by the pioneers. Write to the 
''Northern Pacific Railway Company," asking for a schedule with 
a map. Use this in the same way. These folders may be had at 
most ticket offices for the asking. 

Study the Columbia River, its direction, size, and usefulness. 

Take up the salmon industry, and study the appearance and 
habits of the fish ; also the mode of catching, canning, shipping, etc. 

Teach the lumber industry of Washington and Oregon; the 
kinds and appearance of trees. Have the pupils inquire for speci- 
mens of red cedar shingles, and other forms of Washington lumber. 

Study a typical Oregon farm, its crops, mode of working, kind of 
homes and barns, time of planting familiar crops, time of blossom- 
ing of fruit trees, of transplanting familiar plants, time of harvest- 
ing, etc. 

Suggestions 

1. Do not neglect the use of the globe. Teach the fact that San 
Francisco time is three hours slower than eastern time. Then 
illustrate the rotation of the earth by slowly rotating the globe. 
Rotate toward a stationary light, to show why western time is slower. 

2. Use pictures as much as possible. Try to have a stereoscope, 
and some views of the regions taught this month. If possible 
arrange for a stereopticon entertainment showing the Yellowstone 
Park, and other wonders of the mountains and plains. 

3. Get vivid oral descriptions from travelers, and read from the 
best printed descriptions. By this time the children should be able 
to read good material on this subject themselves. 



204 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

4. Look in the market for products from the Pacific Coast. 
Find out whether any articles we use come from China or Japan 
via the Pacific ports, and eastward across the mountains. 

The Hst of topics for this month is short, because it is probable 
that the other months will overrun, if the work is done with enthu- 
siasm, and also because the nature study at this season takes a 
large amount of time. 



't?^ 



II. APRIL HARVESTS 

Spend more time than usual in talking of the countries that are 
harvesting as we sow. While the year's work is almost wholly 
with our own country, it is not intended that the children shall 
ignore the rest of the world. 



*o 



HISTORY 

Since the events following Washington's journey were simple 
and quite within the grasp of boys of ten, the historic sequence 
might as well be followed here, and the interest aroused by his 
journey used in teaching what foltowed. 

Topics 

1. Washington meets a party of some forty men, as he crosses the 

mountains on his return to Virginia from Fort Le Boeuf. They 
are coming over to build a fort where the Monongahela and 
Allegheny join to make the Ohio. It is easy to imagine the 
dialogue as this party questions Washington and his compan- 
ions about the French. 

2. A camp scene at what is now Pittsburg, after the fort is well 

started, say about March first. The points to be brought 
out are: 
a. The difficulty of driving posts into the frozen ground for the 
stockade. 



APRIL HISTORY 



205 



b. Low state of provisions. 

c. Rumors that the French and Indians are on the way. 

d. Fears that the reinforcements and supplies may not arrive in 

time. 




Oft 



PLAN OF FORT DUQUESNE 



206 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



3. The arrival of the French and the surrender of the fort. 

4. Fort Duquesne.* 







WASHINGTON AND THE FRENCH 1754 



* In the plan of Fort Duquesne (p. 205), the outside line shows the outer 
edge of the ditch which surrounded the fort and extended up to the wall. The 
star-shaped figure with definite angles marks the fort proper. This consisted of a 
wall ten feet thick and twelve feet high, a section of which is shown in the diagram. 
This extended from W. to W., and is represented by two parallel lines. The 
remainder of the wall was stockade only, and is shown by small circles, thus, ooooo. 



APRIL HISTORY 207 

This should be done as constructive work. The boys may build 
it on the ground when the weather is suitable, or it may be made 
on the sand table. It is practicable to make a model of it in any 
school. (See p. 205.) 

5. Washington and Jumonville. 

a. Washington and a party of men cut a road across the mountain. 

b. Washington and five men go down the Youghiogheny to Ohio 

Pyle and return. He comes to the Great Meadows. 

c. The camp. News of the French. The night march. The 

surprise. Victory. 

6. Fort Necessity. 

a. Troubles of W^ashington for the next four weeks. He moves 

north and fortifies Gist's house. 

b. The French leave Fort Duquesne. Row up the Monon- 

gahela. Camp at the Hangard. Advance to Gist's. Fol- 
low him to Great Meadows. 

c. Fort Necessity. Attack by the French. Washington sur- 

renders the fort. Retreats to Virginia. (See map, p. 206.) 

The children may act the surrender. 
Continue the story of Christopher Gist. 

LITERATURE 

For this month the delightful story of the ''Swiss Family Robin- 
son" is suggested as the work in literature. Without entering 
into any discussion as to whether or not it may be called classic 
literature for all ages, it certainly is entitled to that rank for chil- 
dren. The children themselves have settled this question. Its 
chief charm lies probably in the adapting of means to ends which 
makes up the principal part of the story. Children who are a little 
beyond the rude first stages of constructive art welcome with in- 
tense and appreciative interest the story of what nature had pro=- 



208 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

vided for these people, and what use they made of her resources. 
The parallel between the children, who have yet most of the 
world to explore and most of its resources to exploit, and this 
family is striking. The Robinsons had the advantage over primitive 
man of considerable training in the arts, and knowledge of the 
sciences; and the pupils in our schools have been surrounded 
and acted upon by a highly specialized industrial environment. 

"Robinson Crusoe" shows admirably how one person alone may 
gradually provide necessities and even comforts for himself ; but 
people do not live alone nor work alone, and the fact that the 
Robinsons worked together makes this story the more valuable, 
since it shows the advantages of group work. 

It might be pointed out that the story is in no true sense the 
story of what people could do empty-handed under such circum- 
stances, because there was the makeshift of resorting to the ship 
for whatever was needed which they could not contrive on the 
island. But this is just where the parallel between the two cases 
is strong. The children do not have to meet the world empty- 
handed. They have the achievements of all the past to draw from; 
but they must do just what this family did on the desert island. 
They must have the courage and persistency to go to their ship 
again and again, and bring away, in good condition for use, stores 
and tools and appliances, for their struggle in the world. The 
home, the school, all educative influences, are to them what the 
ship was to the Swiss family. The children must apply what they 
can secure to whatever new conditions they meet in life. 

The structure of the story is such that it can be greatly shortened 
without destroying its continuity and interest. 

Below is given a list of topics which will serve as somewhat com- 
plete lesson units. 

1. The shipwreck, and the night on board the stranded vessel. 

2. Preparing to leave. This topic is well adapted to the develop- 



APRIL LITERATURE 209 

ment plan of teaching. The pupils should tell what they 
think each member of the family might look for, with a view 
to future needs. Tell the class that the ship had some colonists 
on board, going out to a new settlement. This gives a clue to 
what might be found among the cargo. 

3. The tub-boat and what it contained. Going ashore. 

4. Setting up a tent. Supper. Strange land. 

5. The first journey into the island. The climate. 

6. The return, and the second supper. The new dishes. 

7. The return to the wreck and loading the tub-boat. 

8. Taking the animals to the shore. Work this out with care. 

9. Return to the shore. The third supper. At this point it is 
advisable to sum up the discoveries and contrivances made. 

10. The wife's journey. Jack's belt. More discoveries. 

11. Building the bridge. Work this out carefully, by drawings or 
a model on the sand table. 

12. Making a ladder. Measuring the height of a tree. 

13. Building the ''Falcon's Nest." 

14. The Sabbath. 

15. Arrow-making. Dressing skins.- Preserving meat in butter. 
Making cases for arrows. 

16. The return to the tent, and the discoveries on the way. 

17. Another trip to the wreck, and the capture of the tortoise. 

18. Making bread out of manioc. 

19. The garden. Plan for watering it. 

20. The family make an exploring trip together. Candleberries. 

Making candles. Making butter. 

21. The discovery of rubber. How they use it. This should be 
followed up by simple explanations of the rubber industry at 
present. 

22. The capture of a buffalo. 

23. Preparing the pith of a sago palm. Smoking meat. 

24. Building a staircase in the tree. 



210 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

25. Taming the onager. 

26. Finding flax. Preparing for the rainy season. 

27. The grotto. 

In presenting this story the teacher should lead up to each new 
discovery by stimulating the children to think what might be dis- 
covered. Then read or tell the facts. Then lead the children to 
think what use might be made of each discovery. Tell the pupils 
that the variety of animals found is exaggerated. Sum up the situ- 
ation frequently by asking the children what the Robinsons need 
next. Develop the fact that they need make no provision against 
cold. Compare frequently what they do with what they could have 
done had they been wrecked in the rainy season, or on an island in the 
latitude of forty degrees, or on the New England coast in winter. 

Notice the absence of reference to modern American machinery. 
Does the book speak of cartridges, revolvers, matches, engines, 
electricity, dynamite, canned foods, etc.? 

Do not read that Ernest was struck by lightning. Children have 
too many foolish notions on that subject. Call attention to how 
much the mother contributed to the welfare of the family. Notice 
that after the discovery of the potatoes, all, including the mother, 
returned fatigued. The father and boys threw themselves down 
to rest, while the mother milked the cow and the goat and prepared 
the potatoes for supper. Would an American writer have put this 
scene into a story? 

Omit nearly all of the reflective part, and much of the preaching. 

ARITHMETIC 

Continue work with decimals and with fractional parts of num- 
bers, and give daily drill for rapidity and exactness. 

Suggestions for Problems 
Make plan of vegetable garden. 
If the rows are two feet apart, how many rows can be planted 



APRIL — ARITHMETIC ^11 

crosswise of a garden that is four rods by six? Three rods by 
four? Five rods square, with a path three feet wide all around 
the outside? 

Make plan of vegetable garden for small vegetables, such as 
onions, beets, and radishes, to be planted in rows one foot apart. 

Plan for larger vegetables, such as cabbage, beans and tomatoes, 
with eighteen-inch rows. Give distance apart of plants, and find 
how many can be grown in each row. Plan for rows three feet 
apart. These are liked by people who use a horse to cultivate 
their gardens. 

Plan a garden containing beds of different sizes, the problen 
being to find how many beds of a given size and shape can be made 
within certain areas, with paths of a given width around each bed. 

Example: Divide a plot 100 feet by 50 feet into beds 10 feet long 
and 3 feet wide, making paths two feet wide between all beds. 
How many beds can be made? 

Plan gardens consisting of both rows and beds. This may be 
varied indefinitely, and should be carried on as long as the interest 
holds out. 

The ideal farm which has been modeled on the sand table or 
drawn to a scale, will give a large number of problems. The area 
of different fields, the material needed for fencing, the cost of it, 
and the quantity of seeds needed for different purposes, make up 
very practical farm questions for this month. Each pupil should 
plan a farm to suit his own notions, draw to a scale, and make 
problems for the other children to solve. 

Explain the process of making butter. Tell the children that 
usually one ounce of salt is added to each pound of butter. When 
butter is made in small quantities at the farmhouse, the wooden 
bowl in which it is to be washed and w^orked is weighed after it has 
been wet ready to receive the newly made butter. The butter is 
then put into the bowl, and the milk carefully rinsed out of it. 



212 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Then the bowl with the butter in it is weighed, and the weight of the 
bowl alone subtracted from the weight of both. Example: If a 
butter bowl weighs 4 lbs. 6 oz., and the bowl and butter weigh 
9 lbs. 12 oz., how much butter is there? 

In weighing the salt, the dish containing it is first weighed, then 
enough salt is added to make the number of ounces of salt equal 
to one ounce to each pound of butter. 

Many problems may be made by varying the conditions. 

Continue the making of bills of purchases needed at the home; 
for example, all the various materials for a dress, a Sunday din- 
ner, new furniture for a room, plants for the school garden, etc. 

It may seem at first sight that domestic affairs have too large a 
place in the number work in this book; but the writer believes 
careful consideration will show that this meets an important need. 
An eminent educator said recently, in the introduction to a most 
admirable book, that "many modern nature books suffer from 
what might be called effeminization." This is doubtless true. 
On the other hand, arithmetic, as found in most books, deals almost 
wholly with business, much of which will never come directly into 
the life of a woman. A girl would look in vain for what may be 
called the arithmetic of the household. It is emphasized here in 
order to dignify the home, and the labor necessary to make a home. 
It is expected that the material suggested here will be supplemented 
by problems from books, and that boys whose parents object to the 
problems advised will work from the books. 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

"Following the Oregon Trail." 

''Salmon Fishing." 

"Signs of Spring." 

Original essay — "An iVmbitious Boy [or Girl]." 



APRIL — LANGUAGE 213 

Have compositions written contrasting harvests of the world 
learned during the year. 

Keep the weather record in the form of notes instead of in tabu- 
lated form. Have it include observations of the sunrise, sunset, 
temperature, dew or frost, winds, appearance of sky, rain, snow, 
hail, or thunder showers, the moon's phases, arrival of- birds, 
nesting, blossoming of flowers and trees, coming out of leaves of 
certain kinds, and the first appearance of snakes, toads, turtles, etc. 

Since the classic for this month is prose, it will be well to use 
numerous short poems for memorizing, and for dictation work. 
By this time the dictation work should be very well done. 

READING 

Have the pupils read any part of the reader positively required 
to be finished and which has not yet been read. 

POEMS FOR DICTATION AND MEMORIZING 

"Daffy-Down-Dilly Came Up in the Cold." 
" 'Give,' Said the Little Stream." 
"The Pet Lamb," Wordsworth. 
Poems by Eugene Field. 
''Little Orphant Annie," Riley. 
The last of the above-mentioned poems should not be dictated. 

PICTURE STUDY 

"Breaking Home Ties," Hovenden. 

Hovenden may not have been a great artist, but he painted a 
good picture, and one that children can to some extent understand. 
Since the dominating thought in much of the work for the year is 
the home, this is a suitable picture to put before the school. 

For Easter use "Christ Blessing the Food," by Carlo Dolce. 



214 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

SONGS 

"Home, Sweet Home." 

" 'Give,' Said the Little Stream." 

"The Merry Farmer Boys." 

THE ARTS 
I. CONSTRUCTION 

If there is a school garden, work in that should take the place 
of the indoor work of the preceding months. If there is not a 
school garden, and the pupils have any opportunity for gardening 
at home, encourage them to w^ork at it. For further hints see 
Nature Study for April in this book, and Hodge's "Nature Study 
and Life." 

On rainy days the children may work at illustrating, in various 
ways, scenes from the "Swiss Family Robinson." 

Let the boys bring miniature rollers (pieces of a broom handle 
could be used), and illustrate how^ Mr. Robinson was able to launch 
his heavy boat. Some of the boys could construct a pulley, and 
show how^ the things were hoisted to the "Falcon's Nest." 

Shells, bits of cane, bamboo, rock salt, cocoanut, cactus, and 
various articles suggestive of tropical life, will be contributed by 
one and another, after the work is once started. 

An ambitious piece of work, w^hich can be done by boys in a 
crude w^ay, is the making of a ship. A fairly satisfactory model 
can be made by using the staves from a flour barrel or an apple 
barrel. These can be fitted together to make the sides and bottom 
of the vessel. They may com.e together at one end to make the 
prow, while the stern may be made of boards fitted in. The boys 
will take great pleasure in rigging the sails. Holes may be bored 
for the portholes and decks may be added. It takes a good deal 
of ingenuity to caulk such a boat so it wull not leak, but it can be 



APRIL THE ARTS 215 

done. Raveled rope and pitch, if it can be procured, will serve 
this purpose. If pitch or resin is used, the greatest care must be 
exercised in melting it, as it is highly inflammable. Fatal accidents 
have occurred from its taking fire. 

II. MODELING 

The pupils should model on the sand table the part of the island 
upon which the Robinsons lived, using real stones for the wall of 
rock, and trying to represent the different places in the story. This 
should be group work, and all the class should help, but it should at 
the same time be largely volunteer work. One child may contribute 
one device, another a suggestion for another part of the scene, etc. 

The history class should make a model of Fort Duquesne. It 
is easy enough in the country to get suitable material, and to make 
a very realistic little fort. But in town, twigs and modeling sand 
are the most available material. Shoots of willow can nearly 
always be had. A scale of one inch to ten feet will make a satis- 
factory model. A plan of the fort is given on page 391 of ''The 
Mississippi Basin," by Justin Winsor. 

III. DRAWING 

Continue drawing in connection with the study of farm work and 
gardening. 

Make sketches and working drawings of the ship, and of the 
various articles which are to be constructed. As soon as the leaves 
are well enough developed, have the children draw all the kinds 
they can name. 

IV. COLOR 

Color the flamingo, the penguin, and other objects from the 
literature lessons. A grove of palm trees makes an effective pic- 



216 



THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 



ture, quite within reach of the children of this grade. They may 
paint also a rubber tree and a cocoa palm. Continue work on the 
harvest chart. Draw or paint salmon and other fish in connection 
with the study of fishing in the geography lessons for this month. 
Birds, leaves and the spring flowers supply as much material for 
color work as can well be used. 





NATURE STUDY 



L INSECTS 



It will have been noted that plant Ufe, man's relation to 
it is the central thought of the nature work for this grade. In the 
fifth grade the children will give more attention to the study of 
animal life. The work with plants leads> naturally to birds and 
insects; hence it is desirable that children should observe both 
birds and insects as much as possible during the summer, in order 
to have a foundation for a more formal study of these subjects in 
September. 




217 



218 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

The pupil should be led to notice the ravages of insects, and he 
will be interested in doing this if a plant or a tree he cares for is 
attacked. Admirable suggestions for beginning a helpful study 
of insects are given in Hodge's ''Nature Study and Life." 

If insects attack plants in which a child has a personal interest, 
he then becomes anxious to protect the enemies of the insects. 
This is not a very high motive to appeal to, but it is the most effective 
both with children and older people. Therefore, the food of birds 
is the chief thing for the children to try to observe. It is difficult 
for inexperienced people to see what birds really do, so it is well 
to tell children what to look for, and to read to them stories of bird 
life. Encourage them to report as many different nests as possible, 
if there is a strong sentiment in the school against robbing the 
nests. 

II. THE SCHOOL GARDEN 

If there is a school garden and the plants are coming on success- 
fully, all the plant study may center around that. If there is no 
garden at the school, and some of the pupils are trying to raise 
plants at home, have the progress made reported frequently. 

If there is no school garden, and it is impossible to visit a farm, 
try to get a journal of farm work of a simple kind for the month of 
May. This will not appeal to the children unless they have at 
some time been to a farm, or are gaining some experience from 
the experiments suggested for April. 

HI. THE WEATHER RECORD 

Note especially the increase of temperature and the greater length 
of day. What will these conditions do for plant life? 

Make a special study of dew. Try to find answers to questions 
about dew given in Frye's "Geography with Sand Modeling, 
page 84. W^hat are the uses of dew? What harm does it do? 



220 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

IV. FLOWERS 

Find and describe as many flowers as possible. Study the blos- 
soms on trees. Record the date of their appearance. Watch for 
"sets," on fruit trees. Notice which trees blossom before they 
put forth their leaves. Notice whether any trees form their seeds 
very early, like the maple, for instance. 

The formal work in nature study in May should decrease in 
proportion to the opportunities for out-door work and observation. 
Where out-door work of any kind is absolutely impossible, as 
might be the case in certain quarters of some of our cities, then the 
window garden must be made as rich as possible, and reading, pic- 
tures, description, trips by the teacher, correspondence, talks with 
the market-women, and specimens sent in from the country must 
be utilized as far as possible. But nothing can ever take the place, 
in a child's development, of actual c'ontact with growing plants 
which belong to him. 

GEOGRAPHY 

Two large and important sections of the United States have been 
left untouched, namely the Gulf States, and the Atlantic slope. 
The reasons for this are that they have less of striking interest than 
the prairies, plains, mountains, and coast that have been studied, 
and the history work selected for the year naturally took us farther 
and farther west. The Atlantic slope is more difficult to teach 
than any other region of our country; so it is well to have the chil- 
dren bring to its study all the power they have gained in the geo- 
graphical excursions they have taken. The subject is listed here 
for the sake of such teachers as must do somewhat systematic 
work on the entire United States in this year. 

It is the opinion of the writer that these two divisions of our 
country, particularly the Atlantic slope, should be left for the 
beginning of the next year, and the simple and characteristic fea- 



MAY GEOGRAPHY 221 

tures of Mexico, Central America, and the Amazon Valley be 
taught instead.- In towns where there is a ten months' term all the 
work can be done. 

If the Atlantic slope is to be taught, the teacher will find it a 
refreshing change from the usual routine to begin with the Gulf 
States, spend a week on them perhaps, making a special study of 
Florida, and then go north, selecting here and there the most 
suitable topics. In this way the extremely difficult geography of 
New York and New England is left until the last. The compli- 
cated physical features, and the densely populated trade and manu- 
facturing centers, with their innumerable products, may well be 
left until a later period in school life. 

Suggestions 

. 1. Recall the Mississippi, and teach the position, relief, and 
extent of the Gulf States. Visit New Orleans. Teach the cane 
siigar industry, and the growing of rice. Make as vivid a picture 
as possible of a plantation in one of the Gulf States, as it is worked 
to-day. Try to get an exact account of the work of a single 
week. 

2. Make a special study of Florida, because of its interesting 
features. 

3. If the Atlantic slope is chosen, the following outline may be 
used: The Atlantic slope, position, extent, and physical features. 

4. Teach the climate of the South Atlantic States, by means of 
the productions of grain, fruit, tobacco and cotton. Teach the 
making of turpentine and resin. 

5. Locate Baltimore, Washington, Wilmington and Charleston. 

6. Recall the Hudson and Delaware from last year's study. 
Continue teaching the Susquehanna from where the pupils learned 
it in connection with the fur traders' paths. The Potomac also will 
be known slightly through the study of Washington's journey. 
Leave the other southern rivers to be learned with history, unless 



222 THE FOURTH SCHOOL' YEAR 

the class lives south of the Potomac, in which case omit the 
northern rivers and teach those of the southern part of the slope. 
7. Locate New York and Boston. 

Teach climate by comparing with the home state, as to house 
building, heating of houses, time that plants are safe from frosts, 
how much the people can sit out on their porches on summer even- 
ings, how much sleighing and skating there are in winter, whether 
grapes and peaches can be grown, etc. 

Other topics may be: Lumbering in Maine; fishermen who go 
out from the New England ports ; the marble and granite quarries ; 
summer resorts — the White Mountains, the Catskills, and the 
Adirondacks. 

If the other plan is followed and the Atlantic slope and Gulf 
States are left until the fifth year, then the topics below will be 
found interesting and profitable. 

1. A visit to a Mexican rubber plantation. Several of the large 

companies of planters send out very instructive accounts of 
the process of obtaining rubber. 

2. A coffee plantation. This may be studied in the same way. 

Also study a field of pineapples. 

3. The -Amazon River. Days may be spent on this subject with 

pleasure and profit. 

4. The wonderful vegetation, the curious animal life, the nuts and 

fruit, etc., offer very suitable material for this class. A map 
of South America should be used, and the Andes Mountains 
named, but no detailed study of the continent is recom- 
mended. 

A line of work which may be done to great advantage in many 
places consists in utilizing the knowledge of their home geography 
which the best class of our immigrants have. They can give most 



MAY — GEOGRAPHY 223 

interesting descriptions of farming as carried on in their country, 
of the cUmate as compared with ours, of the houses, mode of Hfe 
and the simple industries of both men and women. In any locahty 
where there are many foreigners this work is easily done, and forms 
an introduction to the geography of Europe, which will be very 
useful in the upper grades. 

HISTORY 

I. THE UNDERGROUND RAILWAY 

The beginning and growth of slavery, and something of the life 
of Lincoln and of the Civil War, have been taught in the third year. 
As Memorial Day approaches, these lessons of the preceding year 
are best called to mind and reinforced by teaching some new sub- 
ject in which the old ideas reappear. The underground railway is 
a suitable topic for this purpose. It is simple and dramatic, and 
it appeals to the imagination and the sympathy of the pupils. 

The darkest scenes in the history of slavery should not be given 
to young children, nor should hatred of the slave-holder be inspired. 
But enough of the hardships and the injustice should be brought 
out to make the institution, in any form, forever hated. 

The teacher can easily construct a story of a successful runaway 
slave, or she may read to the school the accounts found in Walton 
and Brumbaugh's ''Stories of Pennsylvania"; or she may adapt 
the story of Eliza from Mrs. Stowe's ''Uncle Tom's Cabin." The 
following outline might be used: 

1. Chapter I. The slave trader. Selling Eliza's boy. Read this 

chapter with whatever explanation is needed. 

2. George and Eliza. George decides to run away. Chapters II 

and III. 

3. An evening in Uncle Tom's cabin. Chapter IV. 

4. The sale completed. Mr. and Mrs. Shelby discuss it. .Eliza 



224 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

overhears. Last part of Chapter IV and first part of 
Chapter V. 

5. EHza prepares for flight, says farewell to Uncle Tom, and starts 
on her journey. Remainder of Chapter V. 

6. The discovery of Eliza's flight. The negroes delay the pursuit. 

Chapter VI. 

7. Eliza reaches the river too late to cross. Rests. Chapter 
VII. 

8. The pursuit. Arrival at the tavern where Eliza is resting. 

Middle part of Chapter VII. 

9. Eliza's escape. Last part of Chapter VII. Mrs. Shelby and 

Aunt Chloe receive the news. Last part of Chapter VIII. 

10. The traders and slave hunters. First part of Chapter VIII. 

11. Eliza reaches the home of the Birds, rests, and is carried on to 
Van Trompe's. Chapter IX. Part of the discussion between 

• Senator Bird and his wife would better be omitted, or sim- 
plified. 

12. EHza at the Quaker settlement. The arrival of George. Chap- 
ter VIII. 

13. The fugitives leave the Quaker home. Chapter XVII. 

14. The night ride. The defense. Chapter XVII. 

15. Eliza and George reach Canada and Freedom. Chapter 
XXXV. 

The topics selected confine the story to Eliza and George in their 
heroic efforts to escape. The story may be made fairly continuous, 
w^ithout following up the main character of the narrative, Uncle 
Tom. 

Undoubtedly the experiences of the slaves are overdrawn; and 
it is equally true that the character of Uncle Tom is idealized. But 
the part of the story recommended here omits all that part. It 
might be desirable to forget slavery, tyranny and all the black rec- 
ords of the past, but it is impossible to teach history and ignore 



MAY HISTORY 225 

them, because they are history. They should be looked at calmly 
and fairly now, but they should be looked at. 

As to the probability of the story, everybody knows that the 
escape of the fugitives as described by Mrs. Stowe was no more 
remarkable or thrilling than many which actually took place. The 
town of California, Pa., was a station on the underground railroad, 
where quite as exciting incidents occurred as those related of Eliza 
and George. But no master hand has written them. However, 
teachers who prefer the bare facts of history can find plenty of 
material on this subject which they may work up themselves. 

II. MEMORIAL DAY 

In preparation for the proper observance of this day, make it 
clear to the children that the soldiers whose graves we decorate 
gave up their lives, and that the few still among us risked their 
lives, in order that all the people who live in this country might be 
free and happy. 

Follow this up by teaching that there is still work to be done 
for one's country, but not the same kind of work. Teach that the 
soldiers fought for their country because they were good citizens, 
and that to be a good citizen is just as necessary to-day as it was in 
1861. But the duties are different. 

One of the first duties of a citizen is to keep his premises so cican 
that no harm can come to others by his carelessness. Children, 
even in the fourth grade, can take an intelligent interest in clean 
back yards, and clean sidewalks, and in the protection of shade 
trees. In many towns now children are organized into Junior 
clubs for the purpose of training them in the duties of practical 
citizenship. There is no show, no hurrah, no glory, perhaps, in 
helping to keep a town clean, and to make it beautiful, but filth 
kills far more people than war does. A child cannot understand 
abstract ideas of government or patriotism ; but he is on the high- 
way to good, patriotic citizenship when he has actually taken part 



226 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

in the work of making the town safe and beautiful, and has helped 
to protect public property.* 

Finish the story of -Christopher Gist. 

LITERATURE 

I. ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP 

It is not necessary that all the literature taught be related to some 
study in the course. The all-important point is that the classics 
shall find a response in the minds of the children. We must not 
forget that the literature of the fancy, pure and simple, is a 
fountain of pleasure which should be opened early and kept flow- 
ing. So, occasionally, one of the old enchanting stories should be 
given. It w^ill do both teacher and pupils good to get away once 
in a while from the practical realities of geography, arithmetic and 
spelling lessons. We go back to them refreshed, and glad that we 
live in an age when everybody who chooses may have a wonderful 
lamp. 

If a moral lesson must be sought in every tale, then it may be 
pointed out that Aladdin got his wonderful lamp through obedience 
to his supposed uncle. The boy showed great courage in going 
down into the hole that led to the treasure, and great self-restraint 
in not taking any of the gold or silver in the halls. Again, Aladdin 
showed great prudence in not using his magical lamp except when 
his mother and he needed food. He did not seem to care for 
foolish display, nor for the follies and vanities that one so easily 
rich might have indulged in. On the contrary, he lived humbly 
for several years, devoting his time to the improvement of his mind. 
The devotion of Aladdin's mother to her son is beautifully shown 
by her going to the sultan with so presumptuous an object as to 
ask for the hand of his daughter. The demand of the children 

* The secretary of the American Civic Association, Mr. Charles Mulford Robin- 
son, Rochester, New York, will gladly put teachers on the track of literature which 
will help in interesting the children in this work. 



MAY — LITERATURE 227 

that bad people shall be punished, is fully met in the destruction 
of both the magicians. 

But it is not for the moral lesson that we prize the story. It is 
the creative fancy, the extravagance and at the same time the sim- 
plicity that keep a warm place for it in hearts that have little room 
for anything but the most practical affairs of life. 

This story may well be given in INIay, when the magician Spring 
is showing us marvels little short of those worked by the genie of the 
lamp; when school tasks are irksome, and every effort must be 
made to keep school life from dragging. 

The story may be divided as follows: 

1. Aladdin secures the lamp, is imprisoned, and is released by the 

aid of the magic ring. 

2. Aladdin uses the magic lamp. Carries on his studies. 

3. Aladdin sees the princess and sends his mother to ask for her 

hand. 

4. Aladdin is received by the sultan and is promised the princess. 

5. The genie builds the palace for Aladdin. The wedding. 

6. The wdcked magician returns, secures the wonderful lamp and 

transports the palace to Africa. 

7. The grief and punishment of Aladdin. 

8. The magic ring. Aladdin secures the lamp, and restores the 

palace and princess to their rightful place. 

9. The magician's brother, and the victory over him. 

II. THE SPINNING WHEEL STORIES 

Several or all of these stories may be used. They are refined 
and at the same time strong and wholesome. As with ''The 
Swiss Family Robinson," the children have settled to their satisfac- 
tion whether or not Miss Alcott's books are literature. They may 
not be great, but they are good. 

The stories in question are not all of equal value. "Corny's 



228 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

Catamount" is a good outing story, and "Onawandah," a good 
Indian story, but "Grandma's Story," and "Tabby's Tablecloth," 
are the best. "The Cooking Class" might be easily and effectively 
acted. The three luncheons would make as many scenes, and 
might be given on three successive Fridays. All the girls of a 
school could take part by letting different groups present each 
luncheon. 

The children should be told that Miss Alcott WTote other charm- 
ing books. Give the names, and advise the girls, at least, to read 
some of them during the long vacation. 

A review of the year's work does not show a long list of authors 
studied, but for the most part they are of sterling worth. It is no 
small advance in culture to have learned to enjoy Irving, Longfel- 
low, Burroughs, and Alcott. And to have Kipling's strenuous sea 
story, la Rame's pathetic picture of the starving boy artist, Brown- 
ing's quaint legend, Aladdin's wonderful lamp, and the immortal 
Swiss Family Robinson in mind, is to be insured against many a 
weary hour in later life. 

Nor is this all. The best of Indian life, the struggles and suc- 
cesses of the pioneers, the work and the worth of farm and country 
life, our right relations toward animals, have appealed to the minds 
and hearts of the children in such a way as cannot fail to ennoble 
and enrich their lives. 

ARITHMETIC 

Normal children who are receiving the right kind of training 
find their main interests this month divided between gardening in 
some form or other and games. The arithmetic lessons should 
follow these interests. 

The transplanting of plants from boxes where the seeds have been 
started, either at school or at home, will give occasion for problems. 

The cost of buying different plants as compared with starting 
them at home will give another set of problems. 



MAY ARITHMETIC 229 

From the geography lessons numerous problems involving 
distance, time, and value of productions may be made. In study- 
ing the cotton industry it is interesting to buy a package of cotton, 
as it comes for comfortables, notice the space it occupies as it lies in 
the paper wrapping; then have the pupils reduce it to the smallest 
possible compass. Compare bulk, before and after compressing. 

The work with fractional parts and simple ratios should be con- 
tinued. 

The division of decimals by whole numbers may be taught. 

The children may arrange in tables the various facts they know 
regarding measurements. 

The most interesting Avork they mil have is in connection with 

games. 

Draw a croquet ground, have the pupils measure one or more 
actually in use, and get data for placing the arches and goal posts. 
The diagram given is based upon the one in Johnson's encyclo- 
pedia. Omng to circumstances, many grounds are smaller. 

Questions 

What is the ratio of the length to the width of this field before the 
corners are cut off? Of the width to the length? 

Number the arches. (See p. 230.) Letter the bounds of the 
ground. (The ground should be raised two inches at the outer 
edge, and slope inward thirty inches to the real field line.) 

Find actual width of field. Actual length, that is, inside the 
slope. Find b-c by measurement. Then find distance around 
outside of field, that is, with the corners cut off. Find lines h-i and 
i-j by measurement, and calculate length of inside line. Find the 
distance from outside to first arch. To second arch. From center 
of second arch to foot of slope. To top of slope. Distance from 
arch 2 to arch 6. From outer edge of arch 3 to outer edge of arch 
9. (Side arches are to be 5 feet from foot of rise.) From starting 
post to turning stake. 



' v'ii/^ ^ 4.^ Sloped v^ * « 




'fLp-qu-et 



^^^^ f^^^-^<=^'7t^ti^^Lfb^, 



MAY*— ARITHMETIC 231 

Find the shortest approximate distance that a ball can be taken 
around from starting-point to return, letting the ball stop one foot 
beyond the arch in each case, and using measurement for the 
diagonal lines. Of course, fourth-grade pupils cannot calculate 
the diagonal lines, but they can make their drawing to an exact 
scale, and measure and enlarge, which affords excellent practice 
in arithmetic. 

Draw a football field to a scale. Measure the school grounds. 
How large a field could be placed on the school grounds, and leave 
enough space for spectators? 

Have the boys get dimensions of the nearest football field from 
older boys who are reliable. Tell your pupils to verify the work 
when the season begins. Supplement what the pupils bring in by 
the following statement from Johnson's encyclopedia: 

A football field should be 330 feet long and 160 feet wide. The goal 
posts should be 20 feet high and be placed 18 feet 6 inches apart, with 
the cross-bar 10 feet high. The field should be marked with cross-lines 
5 yards apart. 

Draw a lawn tennis court. Mark it out on the school grounds 
if there is room. 

Find out the value of land by the acre, then compute the cost of 
the land needed for both these games. If land in the vicinity of 
the school is usually sold in lots of a regular size, compare the area 
of the land needed for the athletic field with these lots, and estimate 
the cost. 

LANGUAGE 

TOPICS FOR COMPOSITION 

The meaning and proper observance of Memorial Day. 
Letters to other schools, comparing spring weather records. 
A trip to some of the most interesting places in the New England 
states and New York. Work up in connection with the geography 



^32 THE FOURTH SCHOOL YEAR 

lessons, spending one day at each place. Get the descriptive 
material from geographies, magazine articles, books of travel, and 
the guide books and circulars sent out by transportation companies. 

For oral reproduction tell the story of ** Aladdin's Lamp" and 
the stories by Miss Alcott recommended for this month, and stories 
of heroes of the Civil War. 

Finish Gist's Journal, and sum up his trip. 

Continue all lines of drill that have been carried on during the 
year for the purpose of securing correct form. 

READING 

Learn to read any especially difficult selections in the readers 
that might come up in examination. This work is better done now 
than earlier, because the children bring to bear upon it all the 
power they have gained during the year. If the examination does 
not hold the pupils close to the book, select for reading the most 
delightful material that can be found. 

Encourage a large amount of individual reading. Let the 
children bring their favorite poems. In connection with the arith- 
metic of games, read "Cleon, the Grecian Boy," from the stories 
of ''Ten Boys Who Lived on the Road from Long Ago till Now," 
by Jane Andrews. Read of the games for boys, in the story of 
** Gilbert, the Norman Boy," in the same book. 

PICTURES FOR STUDY 

"The Sower," J. F. Millet. 

"The Market Cart," Gainesborough. 

SONGS 
"America." 
Teach the meaning as far as possible. Require the children to 
stand while singing it. 

"Ho! Ho! Vacation Days are Here." 

"There's a Little Brown Thrush Sitting up in the Tree." 



MAY LANGUAGE 233 

The pictures to be studied and the songs to be learned perhaps 
do not strictly belong to language ; but the intention is that the pic- 
tures will be discussed orally, in the language period. The songs 
should be explained whenever it is necessary, and committed to 
memory. They might with equal propriety have been classed 
with literature. 

THE ARTS 

I. HAND WORK 

On rainy days when the pupils can neither play out-door games 
nor work at the school garden, they may make a porch or a summer 
house with a pavilion roof. If the former is made, a board may be 
arranged to represent the side of a house, or the porch may be added 
to the blockhouse suggested in the December history, or, better, 
use the pavilion idea, and make an entirely new structure. If it 
is possible to visit a planing and turning mill, the workmen will 
generally be willing to give turned posts for the supports. Or 
these may be made of sections of poles, with or without a decoration 
of flat pieces of wood around top and bottom. 

Some of the wood gathered in November may furnish the poles, 
as well as a framework for the roof. Chalk boxes should always be 
saved. They prove handy now and then, and may be used for the 
roof boards, and covered with shingle. If what is known as the 
"hipped" roof for a porch, or a four-sided roof for the pavilion, is 
undertaken, the boys ^^dll need a little help from some older boy. 
This can generally be supplied by some one in an upper grade. 
Rugs, mats, cushions, chairs, a settee, and a little table should be 
added. Do not undertake this piece of work unless there is enthu- 
siasm on the part of the pupils, and it is certain that one or more 
of them has suitable tools. 

Other indoor work may be the making of a trellis for vines. 

Arrange the setting for a school play to mark the close of school. 







L oi-t ^ s(^ 



xA^- 



^ 



MAY — THE ARTS 235 

If the ''Cooking Class" is selected, some work will be needed in 
arranging for it. The costumes will take as much sewing as the 
girls will care to do in the warm weather. 

It is by no means necessary that each line of work shall receive 
the same amount of attention during each month of the year. It is 
better to use that which seems to suit the season best. So the 
indoor work of making things may be wholly laid aside for real 
nature study, and history may be lightened by learning it through 
literature. 

II. MODELING 

The table with sand or clay must be used frequently this month. 
The ^Mississippi Valley must be modeled again, and the dykes can 
be taught best from the relief map. The teaching of the Atlantic 
slope also calls for constant use of the model in trying to give correct 
ideas of the physical features. 

For additional work in modeling, the children may imitate Indian 
pottery and make a set of dishes for their pioneer house. 

III. DRAWING AND COLOR WORK 

Draw the plan of a croquet ground. (See Arithmetic.) 

Draw plans of a football field and tennis courts. (See Spalding's 
books of rules.) 

Sketch flowers and trees with pencil, and with brush and ink. 

Paint the plants that are transplanted and those that the pupils are 
raising out of doors. Give especial attention to seedling trees. 

Paint a summer or late spring landscape. 

Finish the chart of world harvests for spring. 



APPENDIX 

A List of Books and Periodicals Referred to in the Foregoing 
Pages, Together with Other Helpful Books, 

NATURE STUDY 

Nature Study and Life. By Clifton F. Hodge. Ginn & Co., Boston. 

The most helpful single book. Contains suggestions for all the 
grades. 

Nature Study and Related Literature. By Anna E. McGovern. A. Flan- 
agan Company, Chicago. 

Showing aims and plans of teaching; with illustrative lessons for 
the first four grades. 

Nature Study. By Wilbur S. Jackman. Henry Holt & Co., New York. 
An excellent book, containing suggestions for all the grades. 

Especially good on the relation between weather and life. 
Flowers; How to Grow Them. By Eben E. Rexford. J. B. Lippincott 

Company, Philadelphia. 

Has admirable suggestions for window plants. 
Essays by John Burroughs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

Contains some of the best material on nature study. There are 

several volumes. Perhaps the best single volume for the teacher's 

use in the fourth year is "Signs and Seasons." 
Black Beauty. By Anna Sewall. The story of a horse. A. Flanagan 

Company, Chicago. 
Duke. The story of a dog. A. Flanagan Company, Chicago. 
The Strike at Shane's. Sequel to Black Beauty. A. Flanagan Company, 

Chicago. 

Colliery Jim. By Nora J. Finch. The story of a mine mule. A. Flan- 
agan Company, Chicago. 

Secrets of the Woods. By William J. Long, Ginn & Co., Boston. 

The Elementary School Teacher. University of Chicago Press (Monthly), 
Chicago. Subscription, $1.50 per year. 

236 



APPENDIX 237 

This magazine has for several years given full and explicit ac' 
counts of some of the best daily work in the various branches, and 
in all the grades. No teacher should do without it. 

Country Life in America. Doubleday & McClure Company. New York. 
Noted for beautiful illustrations of plants, homes, and country 
scenes. 

State and National Agricultural Reports. 

Write to the Department of Agriculture for them. 

The various educational journals have recently published numerous 
helpful articles upon school gardening. Foremost among these is The 
New England Journal of Education (Boston), with its articles about the 
industrial work of the Hyannis (Mass.) State Normal School; and The 
School Journal (New York), which in a number for June, 1904, gave an 
excellent account of the growing of flowers by the school children of the 
city of Cleveland. 

Florists' and seedsmen's catalogues contain suggestive material. 

Professor Jackman's later views upon nature study are expressed at 
length in The Third Yearbook of the National Society for the Scientific 
Study of Education, Part II. Published by the University of Chicago 
Press, Chicago, Illinois. 

GEOGRAPHY 

Geography with Sand Modeling. By Alex. E. Frye. Ginn & Co., Boston. 
Gives excellent work in physical geography for primary classes. 
For teachers' use only. 
Pennsylvania, Second Geological Survey, K4. 1884. 

Good map of the Monongahela River. Doubtless the state sur- 
veys of other states contain equally useful maps. 
The Seven Little Sisters. By Jane Andrews. Ginn & Co., Boston. 

Children can read this book. 
Second Book, North America. By Tarr and McMurry, The Macmillan 
Company, New York. 

Very useful for the lessons in commerce and industry. In the 
appendix of eight closely printed pages, is a most valuable classified 
list of books and articles upon geography. 

Great American Industries. By W. F. Rocheleau. A. Flanagan Com- 
pany, Chicago. 

Geographical Readers, North America. By Frank Carpenter. American 
Book Company, New York. 



238 APPENDIX 

Boy Life on the Prairie. By Hamlin Garland. A. C. M cClurg & Co. 
Chicago. 

The Little Chronicle. Published weekly by the Little Chronicle Pub- 
lishing Company, Chicago. ($1.50 per year.) 

Publishes a calendar of harvests for the whole world by months. 

A Trip on Snow Shoes to the Barren Lands. By Caspar Whitney. Harper 
and Brothers, New York. 

Published first in Harper's Magazine, December, 1895, to April, 
1896. Useful in teaching the geography of Canada, the Hudson 
Bay fur trade, and the effects of cold upon life in the February 
Nature Study. 

The Pony Express. The Century Company, New York. 

A good account is found in The Century Magazine for October, 

1898. 
Commercial and Industrial Geography. By J. J. McFarlane. Sadler- 

Rowe Company, Baltimore, Md. 
Commercial Geography. By C. C. Adams. D. Appleton & Co., New 

York. 

Industrial and Commercial Geography. By J. U. Barnard. A. Flanagan 
Company, Chicago. 

A series of working outlines. 

The United States. By Caspar Whitney. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 
Use the chapter on "Scenographic Features," in teaching the 
natural wonders of the United States. 

The Oregon Trail. By Francis Parkman. Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 

Pioneer History Stories of the Rocky Mountains. By Chas. McMurry. 

The Macmillan Company, New York. 

Gives the story of Fremont, and that of Lewis and Clark. 

Much valuable material is found in any text-book in geography; alro 

in the guide books issued for the different states and cities, and in the 

railroad folders which are extensively advertised, and which may be had 

on application. 

Use Jackman's Nature Study and The Elementary School Teacher, 

from the Nature Study list. 

HISTORY 

Conrad Weiser. By Joseph Walton. 

Useful for Pennsylvania teachers who want a thorough knowledge 

of our early relations with the Indians. 



APPENDIX 239 

The Early History of the West. By Rup.p. Out of print. 
Contains Weiser's Journal. Pittsburg, 1846. 

Montcalm and Wolfe. By Francis Parkman. Little, Brown & Co., 
Boston. 

Tells the story of Celoron, the French forts, Washington and 
Jumonville, and the defeat at Fort Necessity. 
La Salle. By Francis Parkman. Little, Brown <fe Co., Boston. 
The Old Regime in Canada. By Francis Parkman. Little, Brown t*c 
Co., Boston. 

Give a good deal of light on the fur trade. 
Christopher Gist's Journals. J. Weldin & Co., Pittsburg. ($5.00.) 

Edited by William Darlington, with very full notes and maps. 
American History Told by Contemporaries. By A. B. Hart. 4 vols. 
The Macmillan Company, New York. 

The first, second and third volumes contain good articles on 
pioneer life, and the fur trade. 

The Mississippi Basin. By Justin Winsor. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
Boston. ($4.00.) 

Has numerous paragraphs on the fur trade. 
The Pennsylvania Archives. Second series. Vol. XV. 
The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, Vol. II. Published by the state. 

Gives many details of the topics outlined for October, March, 
and April. 

History of Education in Pennsylvania. By Wickersham. 
Graphic account of old-time schools. 

Stories of Ohio. By W". D. Howells. American Book Company, New 
York. 

Good account of pioneer life. 

Stories of Pennsylvania. By Walton and Brumbaugh. American Book 
Company, New York. 

The Making of Illinois. By Irwin F. Mather, A.M. A. Flanagan Com- 
pany, Chicago. 

The Making of Iowa. By Henry Sabin. A. Flanagan Company, Chicago. 

Whitney's Trip on Snow Shoes to the Barren Lands, in the geography 
list, is very useful in teaching the history for January. 

The Pioneer History Stories of the Mississippi Valley, and The Pioneer 
History Stories of the Rocky Mountains, both by Charles McMurry, and 



£40 APPENDIX 

published by The Macmillan Company, are very helpful in both history 
and geography. 

American History and Its Geographic Conditions. By Ellen Churchill 
Semple. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

Pacific History Stories. By Harr Wagner. The Whitaker & Ray Com- 
pany, San Francisco 

Can be read by children. 

Lewis and-Clark. By William R. Lighton. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
Boston. 

Glimpses of Pioneer Life. By C. L. Livingstone. A. Flanagan Com- 
pany, Chicago. 

The Beginning of the West. By Anna Buckbee. (In preparation.) Will 
contain the history stories advised for the fourth year, except those 
for February and May. 

The Elementary School Teacher and Course of Study, for May, 1902, has 
two excellent articles on teaching pioneer history. 

LITERATURE 

Literary Landmarks. By Mary L. Burt. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Bos- 
ton. 

An exceedingly lielpful book. Contains a very full list of books 
suitable for schools, a classified list for each of the eight grades, and 
an admirable discussion of teaching literature in the grades. 

Special Method in the Reading of Complete English Classics in the Common 
Schools. By Charles A. McMurry. The Macmillan Company, New 
York. 

An excellent book on teaching both reading and literature. 

All of the classics recommended are so well known, and there are so 
many editions of them, that it seems unnecessary to recapitulate here the 
titles given under literature for each month. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Hov) to Make Baskets. By Mary White. Doubleday & McClure Com- 
pany, New York. 

Hand Loom Weaving. By Mattie Phipps Todd. Rand, McNally & Co., 
Chicago. 



APPENDIX 241 

School Sanitation and Decoration. By Burrage and Bailey. D. C. 

Heath & Co., Boston. 
Steps in English, Book I. By A. C. McLean. American Book Company, 
New York, 

Contains valuable suggestions for teaching correct forms both in 
written and oral speech. 
The Coda. Published by Ginn & Co., Boston. Supplementary music for 
schools. Large number of good school songs, classified for the 
different grades. 
The four firms named below sell good pictures for school use: 
Art Exhibit Catalogue, Horace K. Turner, Boston, Mass. 
The Art Study Company, 307-321 Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 
The Moulton Photograph Company, 17 Bromfield St., Boston, Mass. 
The Perry Pictures Company, Maiden, Mass. 
Spalding's Athletic Library. (Monthly.) Ten cents a number. Pub- 
lished by The American Sports Publishing Company, 15 Warren 
St., New York. 

The various numbers give dimensions and directions for laying 
out football, baseball, tennis and croquet grounds. 



OCT 19 19041 



